Hearts' Kingsley could miss season after surgery

Stephen Kingsley was injured after stretching to clear against Aberdeen

Heart of Midlothian defender Stephen Kingsley could miss the rest of the season and will have to undergo an operation on a hamstring injury picked up in Sunday's draw with Aberdeen.

Head coach Neil Critchley says it means he will be looking to strengthen the defensive area in the January transfer window.

Although he says it is too early to know if Kingsley's season is definitely over, the 30-year-old first-team stalwart will be out for "months".

Critchley said: "Stephen will be having surgery on his hamstring so he will face a significant period of time out, which is unfortunate for him and us. So that is bad news."

Kingsley missed 14 games for Hearts in 2022 with hamstring problems.

"It will be months," Critchley said of the Scotland capped left-back's latest injury. "Whether that will be this season or going into next season, it's too early to say because he still has to have the surgery.

"We will see how that goes but it will be a significant period of time, that's for sure. It was an area of the pitch we were looking at anyway but with Stephen being out, it's something now we have to consider."

Hearts currently sit bottom of the Scottish Premiership table with just 10 points from their opening 15 matches as they prepare to host Dundee on Saturday - but Critchley insists there is no crisis at the club in terms of fearing the drop.

"We are not even halfway through the season and I know you like to use words like 'crisis' but I am just focusing on the next game," he added.

"We joined the club in the last two months, we have had improvements in terms of performances and now we have a period of games where we need to start putting some 'Ws' on the board.

"It's an important period both domestically and in Europe. We have a chance to build and things could look significantly different in a few weeks' time."