RYAN STEVENSON, the Hearts midfielder, will play for the club's under-20 side tonight in a bid to enhance his match fitness ahead of Saturday's vital match against St Mirren.
The 29-year-old made his comeback from injury - ahead of schedule - as a 71st-minute substitute in Saturday's goalless draw at home to Dundee United. He was expected to be out for two months after sustaining knee ligament damage in August's Edinburgh derby win over Hearts, but the early return of the attacker is a huge boost to a Hearts squad bereft of numbers and experience.
Gary Locke, his manager, revealed Stevenson is pencilled in to take part in this evening's youth tie with St Mirren at Airdrie's Excelsior stadium. The player will attempt to force his way into Locke's first-team plans for Saturday's eagerly anticipated visit of the senior side, whom Hearts have in their sights as they bid to overturn a 15-point penalty.
"I'm delighted to get Ryan back," said Locke. "He is a big player for us, very influential in the dressing room and it's great for everyone to see Ryan back on the pitch. He had only been training for a week and he's still got a wee bit to go, but getting him back is great. He will get a wee run out on Tuesday, hopefully his fitness will improve and we can see the best of him in the next couple of weeks.
"Ryan went on and he showed that he's committed to the cause. He went flying into a few tackles it's probably pleasing for his own mind-set that he's perfectly okay. It's great for Ryan to get 20-odd minutes and it's great to have him in and around the squad again."
The point collected in a hard-fought and controversial draw with Dundee United at the weekend saw Hearts move onto minus seven points. And with St Mirren having made a slow start, Locke knows the weekend's fixture is important.
"It's a big game," he admitted. "It's another home game at Tynecastle that we need to try and take points from. We just have to try and eat into the points, try and get to zero as quickly as possible, that's been the target all along."
Meanwhile, Marius Zaliukas, the former Hearts captain is likely to join Queens Park Rangers after impressing manager Harry Redknapp in training. The Lithuania international centre-half turned down an offer from Ally McCoist's Rangers to go on trial with the English Championship league leaders last week. Zaliukas has been a free agent since departing Tynecastle when his contract expired during the summer.
"He's been training, he's done well here," said Redknapp. "He did well in Scotland for a few years and we checked him out with some contacts that we've got up there and all the reports are good."
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