HEARTS face an anxious wait before discovering whether Steven Naismith, their most influential player, will play again this season.

The 32-year-old has been sent to a specialist to assess his latest injury set-back. He was withdrawn at half-time of his side’s 2-1 defeat to Celtic last Wednesday and missed the Scottish Cup tie against Partick Thistle on Monday night in the hope that would solve a knee problem.

But the issue has proved more severe than first thought and he has been ordered to return to England for a scan to diagnose the full extent of the injury.

Following their own tests, it is understood that Hearts’ medical staff are braced for bad news, with Naismith expected to be ruled out for several weeks. He would then face a race against time to play any further part of a season which for the Tynecastle club could end with a trophy.

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It will be up to Naismith and his parent club, Norwich City, to decide whether immediate surgery is required, which could further extend his absence.

Craig Levein confirmed last week that the former Rangers and Everton attacker would need to go under the knife for a tidy-up procedure at the end of the current campaign and this may be seen as an opportunity to accelerate that process.

The news is also a blow for Scotland ahead of this month’s Euro 2020 qualifiers against Kazakhstan and San Marino. Naismith, capped 49 times, regained his international place following his sensational start to the season and found the net against Albania and Portugal. However, Alex McLeish will now be forced to rely on other attacking options.

Naismith would be a huge miss over what could be an interesting end to this season.

Hearts won an eighth Scottish Cup in 2012, a thrashing of Hibernian no less, and lost their seventh League Cup Final less than a year later.

And then they fell off a cliff.

In June 2013, a few months after losing to St Mirren in their last final, the administrators moved into the club and for a spell threatened to take up squatters’ rights. The debt stood at £25m. No players could be signed. The next season began with a minus 15 points total. Relegation duly followed.

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Five years later thanks to Ann Budge and an incredible response from Hearts supporters, the Gorgie club are in the Premiership, fighting for a European place and are two matches with lower league opposition away from a Scottish Cup final.

Hearts should have beaten Partick Thistle in Maryhill on Monday night; however, they really ought to win the quarter-final replay at Tynecastle next Tuesday and then it’s Inverness Caledonian Thistle in the semi-final.

Win both and a cup final in May would be just reward to all those who fought to keep alive this historic football club.

It is, as they say, all there for them.

“If it was that easy, eh? I don’t think we have ever done anything easy,” so said Hearts captain and realist Christophe Berra. “The last time I was involved in the cup (2006) we beat Gretna on penalties in the final and that went right down to the wire.

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“So it is about getting through. There was a bit of frustration at the end because we felt we did enough to win the game on Monday. They had one chance and scored. The hardest thing in football is putting the ball in the net and that’s what we couldn’t do.”

Ah, Gretna. Remember them. That final 13 years ago ended 1-1 after 120 tense minutes and having lived through that, and with a better Hearts team than he leads right now, the veteran will stress to his young team-mates the importance of not underestimating anyone when the Scottish Cup gets to the stage where clubs are at least looking into how much an open top bus costs to hire.

“We are not daft. It is all about attitude and application,” said Berra. “We showed great attitude and application, especially the first half against Partick Thistle.

“But yes, we have never done anything easy at Hearts, not many teams unless you are a Man City or a, I was going to say Liverpool - but not even them just now,. We will do it the hard way and our aim is to win the Scottish Cup”