Craig Halkett: Hearts defender to miss 10 weeks with knee injury
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Halkett was injured in last weekend's 0-0 draw at St Mirren
Hearts defender Craig Halkett has been ruled out for approximately 10 weeks, according to manager Craig Levein.
The 24-year-old centre-half picked up a medial ligament injury in the 0-0 draw away to St Mirren last weekend.
Levein says it is a blow for his side, but stresses he is now used to trying to cope without key players.
"It's disappointing on a number of fronts - for both us and himself because he's been doing well," he said.
"We've been in this particular mode for a while so I try not to get overly concerned about these things and just look at the players we have available. We have some quite versatile players which helps.
"I wouldn't say I was expecting it - this current phase of injuries one after the other - but it's not quite as sore as it was when it first started.
Loic Damour is a doubt for this weekend's visit of Kilmarnock after he also limped off in the draw in Paisley, but Levein is hopeful that Steven Naismith will return after the international break.
"Loic hasn't trained this week so that's an indication that he will struggle for tomorrow," he said.
"Steven has done a fair bit of work - we need to build his resilience back up again.
"I tried to accelerate the process a couple of weeks ago which resulted in him having the problem with his hamstring, so I made the decision at that point to not try and rush him to get back.
"If he completes three days of training next week then I'll be very confident that he will be fit for Rangers."
Hearts are now unbeaten in their past three matches and Levein believes that their resurgence will continue.
"We've got one wheel back on the track, the job now is to get the other one back on," he said.
"I feel we're turning a corner, we're not turning in a taxi, we're turning in a juggernaut but we are turning a corner and I'm hopeful that tomorrow will put us into the break with a positive feeling."