Levein left waiting on De Vries

HEARTS boss Craig Levein faces an anxious wait to discover if striker Mark de Vries will be fit for the derby against Hibs at Easter Road on Sunday, writes PAUL KIDDIE.

The Dutchman sent the Jambos on the way to an opening day win over Aberdeen on Saturday with a superb solo effort at Tynecastle. However, the striker failed to complete the 90 minutes after limping out of the second half with a groin injury.

De Vries wrote himself into the Edinburgh derby history books with four goals in the Gorgie outfit’s 5-1 triumph at the start of last season and the last thing Levein wants is to see the Dutchman sidelined by injury so early in the season.

"Mark has done all the pre-season and has been looking great," said boss Levein.

"He is fitter and sharper than he has been for a few seasons and this latest setback is unfortunate.

"He had scored a great goal but indicated in the second half that he had a sore groin. He is an important player for us and hopefully we got him off before it got too serious.

"He is still sore but it hadn’t got any worse overnight after the game and I would like to have him available for this weekend."

The public sale of Hearts tickets for Sunday’s showdown at Easter Road went on sale today at the Tynecastle ticket office. All tickets are priced £20.

Taken from the Scotsman