Polish midfielder Adrian Mrowiec returns to Hearts on three-year deal

"He has acquitted himself well," Hearts manager Jim Jefferies said of Mrowiec, who has been on trial with the club for several weeks. "We have been impressed and I think there is a job he can do for us.

"There are no guarantees, but he is a big strong physical presence and he will be a useful addition. I have looked at him and I think you need a squad of players."

With Eggert Jonsson still suspended, Ruben Palazuelos is expected to stay in the holding role for the Hamilton match. Mrowiec could be among the substitutes, however, and with both Jonsson and Palazuelos able to slot in at full-back the Pole should get his chance sooner rather than later.

Striker Jonathan Toto, by contrast, is still unsure whether he will be offered the chance to turn out for the club in a competitive match after impressing in pre-season friendlies. Hearts are still awaiting more information about the 20-year-old Cameroonian, and while Jefferies has been enthused by his performances, the manager is in no rush to sign another striker, having already recruited Kevin Kyle and Stephen Elliott over the summer.

Elliott remains a doubt for today's game afer picking up a hamstring strain during the week, while Kyle is still short of match fitness and may not start. With Ryan Stevenson also still serving a ban, Hearts remain some way short of full strength, but one piece of good news for the manager is the return of central defender Ismael Bouzid.

It is only a few weeks since the Algerian suffered a suspected fractured skull in a friendly at Millwall, and the fear then was that he would face a lengthy absence. But it turned out that nothing was broken, and Bouzid - who would have missed last week's draw with St Johnstone anyway because of suspension - has recovered far more quickly than was initially expected.

"I'm very well, and very happy to come back into the training and maybe have my first game," Bouzid said. "The first hour (after the injury] was very difficult for me, because I took a very hard hit. The shock was very, very hard.

"When I was in the emergency, they first thought it was a fracture, I couldn't move my head. I was scared about this, but after two days it was much better. It's OK.

"The doctor said to me he had never seen in his life this fracture. It was a great panic for me. But after the tests he told me 'It's OK, you don't have a fracture. You need to be relaxed for some days but it will be OK for you.'

"It was no good for me for the first day because I couldn't move my head very well, but after two days it was better and the doctor said to me you don't have a fracture."

Had all his attention not been taken up by the acute pain of the injury, Bouzid might have been even more panicked, as if a fracture had been confirmed it could have jeopardised his career. All the same, it was a memorable night in King's College hospital, as he recalled.

"It was a very long night in London, I won't forget that night. The hospital was very small and very full, a lot of people fighting. I was still wearing my Hearts jersey. It was like a movie, an emergency movie, a lot of people came paralysed, there was fighting.

"It was crazy. It was funny, but at that moment it was not funny for me. I had no idea (about the prospect of not playing again]. I had never seen this fracture in this part, and the doctor too. The physio asked what happened, if you get a fracture there he didn't know, he had never seen it in his life.

"The physio and me stayed in London. The next day we flew back to Edinburgh and came back home, staying relaxed.

"He told me I needed to see how my head was and to wait, because, if I got a kick again, it can be more dangerous. But he said for one week relax and don't train and after five days it was very good for me."