McAllister may need op, says McGlynn

HEARTS caretaker manager John McGlynn today revealed that defender Jamie McAllister could require a summer operation on his troublesome knee.

McGlynn has injuries piling up in the build-up to Sunday’s final - and pivotal - SPL meeting of the season with Aberdeen at Pittodrie, with Michael Stewart, Stephen Simmons and Mark Burchill all rated as extremely doubtful.

It is McAllister’s knee which is giving greatest concern to the medical staff at Tynecastle, however.

Its refusal to clear up under treatment has led McGlynn and physio Alan Rae to consider putting the full-back under the knife.

McGlynn admitted: "Jamie’s knee has been really aggravating him and it may well be that he

has to get an operation on it. That hasn’t been decided for definite yet but it may be the type of thing which has to happen.

"Mark had his [thigh] injury at the weekend and it’s not getting any better at all. It’s very much the same so it’s slow progress with him.

"Michael’s back isn’t looking that good and Stephen’s foot is something that has just flared up and Alan is not confident at all.

"These are not exactly little kicks which are just going to go away. They are actually niggly injuries that have been hanging about."

Players carrying injuries through the final weeks of the season is nothing new, although McGlynn could doubtless have done without so many clambering for the treatment table as he attempts to steer Hearts to the end of the campaign along with skipper Steven Pressley.

The reserve-team coach is grateful, therefore that the season is one game from conclusion. "We’ve had the most games if you take in our UEFA Cup involvement and that’s had a toll on the players. It’s good that after one last effort the lads can get the holiday they deserve."

McGlynn will also be without second-choice goalkeeper Tepi Moilanen at Pittodrie after the Finn agreed a move away from Tynecastle to an as yet unnamed club.

"He has something fixed up and rather than play him in reserve fixtures or have him on the bench we’ve agreed to leave him out. Young Jamie MacDonald will come onto the bench at Aberdeen and we would have no qualms about using him should something happen to Craig Gordon."

Taken from the Scotsman