Craig Halkett maps out Hearts road to full recovery as fit again Jambo puts year of injury hell behind him

It's been a long year and an even longer road to recovery for Craig Halkett. But as the Hearts defender bids farewell to a painful 2023 he's confident of getting his career back on track in 2024.

Halkett was just one day short of a full calendar year between rupturing his ACL on Christmas Eve 2022 and making his first start since that awful day at Tannadice. He’s now made Steven Naismith’s starting Xi for the last two matches and, with Kye Rowles heading Down Under on international duty, his return has been a blessing for the Tynecastle boss.

The 28-year-old is set to face his old club Livingston on Tuesday and insists he has no fears testing his knee on the Tony Macaroni plastic as Hearts finish up for the winter break looking for another three points to strengthen their grip on third. He said: “It was always important for me to come back in and play a couple of games before the break. I didn’t want to go into the break not having featured, so it was good to get some minutes under my belt. It was always going to take time after such a long time out to get up to 100 per cent.

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“We have another game against Livingston and then I can work hard during the break to come back. It has been a long year and myself, the manager and the sports scientists all know it’s going to take a few games to get back up to 100 per cent. But right now I am feeling as good as I can be.”

Asked if Livi’s synthetic surface was a concern, Halkett said: “Not really, to be honest. I played on that pitch for three and a half years, so I’m pretty used to it. It’s not something I have in the back of my head.

“When we go to Kilmarnock we practice on astro