Kyle and Elliott get chance to impress at Hearts

KEVIN KYLE and Stephen Elliott have the opportunity to impress Jim Jefferies and improve their fitness levels tonight when Hearts face East Fife in Methil in a closed-door friendly.

The manager will also assess trialist striker Jonathan Toto during the game as he deliberates over whether the Cameroonian deserves a contract.

The match has been designed to help Kyle and Elliott augment their fitness ahead of Saturday's SPL encounter with Hamilton. Both players featured as substitutes against St Johnstone as Hearts opened the new season with a 1-1 draw at Tynecastle on Saturday. They are keen to start at New Douglas Park but Jefferies will assess them this evening and in training throughout this week before taking a decision.

"This game will get both Kevin and Stephen going. Neither of them have done a lot of training so this is a good chance for them," said Jefferies. "They were thrown in on Saturday against St Johnstone and I think there were little glimpses of a partnership. You could see they are on the same wavelength. They need to play together tonight and use the game to get their sharpness back."

Hearts are currently conducting background checks on Toto to eliminate any possibility of him being registered with another club. Club officials want to determine that the 20-year-old is definitely a free agent before a contract offer is considered.

"We're still waiting on paperwork before we decide to do anything with him," said Jefferies. "We need to make sure he isn't committed to anybody else so we're doing background checks. He is on trial but there's no point making decisions until his agent has supplied us with the relevant paperwork. There's no deadline on his trial period so we'll see how he goes.

"Tonight isn't really designed for him but he might feature in part of the game. He'll be with the squad but I'm thinking more for Kyle and Elliott to get the full game."

Meanwhile, former Hearts manager Csaba Laszlo will begin legal proceedings against his old club next week. The Hungarian is suing Hearts for unfair dismissal and breach of contract after his dismissal in January. The employment tribunal is scheduled to start on Tuesday and should last four days, during which Laszlo will give evidence in person about the controversial end to his tenure at Tynecastle.