CRAIG Levein admits he will struggle to field a team against Kilmarnock on Sunday after revealing he has just 12 fit outfield players.
The Tynecastle manager will appeal to the SPFL for permission to recall their four players who are currently registered as development loans with other clubs; Dario Zanatta, Aidan Keena, Alex Petkov and Daniel Baur.
Of the minuscule pool of non-goalkeepers Levein can call upon, seven are teenagers and three – Chris Hamilton, Connor Smith and Dean Ritchie – have never kicked a ball for Hearts’ senior side.
Levein even enquired about the prospect of naming 16-year-old Sean Ward in the squad for the trip to Rugby Park, but as he has not yet signed professional terms, that is prohibited.
“If we had being going for Europe, this would have been a disaster. I am going to ask the league if we can get back our development players to at least go on the bench,” said Levein.
“I have even looked at the younger ones, guys who have just turned 16 like Sean Ward, who has done really well in our under-20s team, but he is on an academy contract. So I can’t do that.
“Suffice to say I’ve got a good idea of who will be playing – but I don’t know where!
“In other circumstances I might have asked for a postponement, although I doubt we would have got it because I think you have to have less than 11 players to get that.”
Hearts' hosts today, meanwhile, were still smarting from Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers' midweek "firemen" remark with Kilmarnock boss Steve Clarke saying his "silly" comparison of the Rugby Park side with a bunch of firefighters is not befitting of a Celtic manager.
The Northern Irishman was frustrated by Killie's tactics as they held out for a 0-0 draw on Wednesday, claiming his team would have found it hard to break down "11 firemen that deep on a pitch".
Clarke hit back at his Parkhead counterpart, insisting it was not his job to make life easier for the Ladbrokes Premiership champions.
The Kilmarnock manager said: "If you look at the majority of what Brendan said, it was correct and proper – but that [firefighter] line wasn't really befitting of a Celtic manager.
"It wasn't so much disrespectful, it was just a silly line to use in what was quite an honest post-match analysis of the game.
"We don't have to go there and play the way Celtic want us to.
"We went there to play the way that is best for us to get a result. It's my job as a manager to set my players up in a way that gives us the best chance of getting a positive result and that's what we did.
"If you are the team with 73 per cent of the possession then it's what you do with it that counts and on the night Celtic didn't do enough.
"They only had one shot on target, which for that amount of possession I'd think would be disappointing for Brendan and his team.
"If he wants to insinuate that Celtic could not have broken down 11 amateur players, which is what he was insinuating, then I think he underestimates his own abilities as a coach and the ability of his players because I'm pretty sure Celtic would beat 11 firemen.
"I didn't see Brendan after the game, we didn't have the usual post-match chat so I don't know if he was frustrated or not after the results we've had against them this year.
"I don't think he should be too frustrated seeing as they have two trophies in the bag already and the chance to make it three next week."
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