De Vries is set to miss Killie clash

PAUL KIDDIE

HEARTS boss Craig Levein is facing up to the prospect of being without star striker Mark de Vries for Saturday’s visit of Kilmarnock.

The Dutchman has been struggling with the slight tear to his hamstring he suffered in the pre-season friendly against Fulham at Tynecastle.

He was forced to sit out the Jambos’ first two matches of the SPL season although Levein was hopeful of having last term’s top scorer available for the visit of Jim Jefferies’ side.

However, despite the forward having been able to do some jogging over the last couple of days, it now appears highly unlikely that he will recover in time to face the Rugby Park outfit.

As desperate as he is to have the towering Dutchman back leading his attack, Levein is wary of rushing the forward back into action too quickly.

"Mark did a bit of running yesterday and was still feeling his hamstring a little bit," said the Tynecastle boss.

"I won’t be taking any risks with him as if he comes back too early and something happens then we could be looking at six or eight weeks out.

"He is an important player for us and while we want to win every game, it is a long season and we also have Europe to think about.

Taken from the Scotsman