Pereira is a doubt for Killie visit

HEARTS boss Craig Levein could be hit by a striking crisis for tomorrow’s visit of Kilmarnock after Ramon Pereira pulled up during training.

The Spaniard, who has looked impressive in his first two starts of the season, limped out of the session with a groin problem.

Levein won’t know until nearer kick-off whether the former Raith Rovers star will make it and this latest blow is the last thing he needed with resources up front already stretched to breaking point.

The Gorgie chief is already without last season’s top scorer Mark de Vries, who is recovering from a hamstring injury.

It had been hoped that Kevin McKenna, who has missed the start of the campaign with a knee problem, would be available for tomorrow’s clash but that now seems unlikely after the Canadian suffered a reaction to his training stint on Tuesday.

"We’ll have to see how Kevin is today but there was a reaction after he trained on Tuesday," said Levein. "And Ramon felt a wee niggle in his groin during training yesterday. Hopefully we have caught it in time but again we’ll just have to wait and see."

With just one goal from their opening two league matches, Hearts need to start finding the route to goal and Levein is hoping for a change of luck when the men from Ayrshire visit Tynecastle.

He said: "We have been working hard on our crossing and finishing and I think we just need a goal to get us going and the earlier the better.

"It’s maybe just a bit of luck that we need at the moment and hopefully that will come tomorrow against Kilmarnock. At least we have been looking solid at the back and not looking like losing a goal."

Levein refused to be drawn on the off-field events, insisting the sale of Tynecastle was nothing to do with the players.

"We will continue to do what we have always done and that is concentrate on winning matches," he said. "We cannot influence what goes on off the park. We have a job to do and know we have to remain focused on getting results."

Taken from the Scotsman