Ryan Stevenson, a key player in Hearts' bid for survival this season, will be out for up to three months with knee ligament damage sustained in the 1-0 victory over Hibernian on Sunday.
The 28-year-old, who admitted in the build-up to Sunday's match that he was effectively the club's one-man strikeforce, lasted just 12 minutes after pulling up following a robust challenge from Rowan Vine. The former Ayr United and St Johnstone player was sent for a scan yesterday afternoon and the tests indicated a medial ligament tear.
The news confirmed the initial fears of the medical staff at Tynecastle and it is expected the one-time Chelsea trainee will be sidelined for somewhere between eight and 12 weeks.
Stevenson is one of only two outfield players over the age of 22 available to manager Gary Locke after the signing embargo imposed after Hearts went into administration in June. Jamie Hamill is the most experienced figure in a team whose next oldest outfield player is Dylan McGowan, who turned 22 a week ago and has made just 14 first-team starts.
"It's a blow for us as Ryan is one of our most experienced players. He'll be in a brace for 5½ weeks but the good news is he hasn't damaged his cruciate, so from that perspective it could have been worse.
Danny Wilson, captain and man-of the-match on Sunday, says Hearts cannot allow their standards to drop and has called on his young team-mates to build on the momentum
"It will do wonders for our confidence, it's great to win the derby but that performance now needs to be our benchmark regarding our application and performance going forward, " said Wilson. "It's a proud moment, not just for me as skipper, but for the whole team, the backroom staff and everyone at the club really. We've had a tough summer and that's the perfect way to get up and running.
"We have been working really hard, we know we're in a bad situation but we're doing everything we can to get ourselves out of it. That was three points and we need 12 more to catch up and then we can really start the season."
Wilson added: "We know we're young but we can't use that as an excuse; we were down before the season even kicked off when we had points taken off us. We know we have good players regardless of their age. They have a chance to play for this great club and as long as they embrace that and do well, we should be okay."
There was some movement off the field yesterday when BDO, Hearts' administrators, were given the go-ahead to continue to work towards a Company Voluntary Arrangement following an initial creditors meeting at Tynecastle.
Only three local creditors were present at the meeting, while Ukio Bankas and UBIG, the Lithuanian companies owed a combined £23.7m, were represented by proxies.
BDO will now attempt to work towards appointing a preferred bidder this week.
Fans group the Foundation of Hearts are the clear front-runners to be granted that status after the only other interested party, Five Stars Football Ltd (led by the former Livingston owner Angelo Massone) failed to meet a Friday deadline over proof of funding.
The FOH are offering £3m for a CVA and have £3.75m available to the club for working capital over three years.
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