Robbie Neilson convinced Hearts results will come when injury crisis eases but rues more missed chances

Robbie Neilson is convinced the results will come for Hearts when their mounting injury problems start to clear up.

The Jambos lost another two players in the 2-0 Premiership defeat to Aberdeen at PIttodrie on Sunday. Andy Halliday had to come off after less than ten minutes while Peter Haring was in a bad way following a head knock late on and needed to be stretchered off.

Those latest losses take the total number of injured members of Neilson’s squad up to 11 ahead of facing champions Celtic at Tynecastle next week. The boss is hopeful of having one or two back for that game, but has charged those filling in to grasp their chance in the meantime: “For me, it’s an opportunity for people to get game time and show what they’ve got,” he told BBC Sportsound. "We’ve got a lot of young players around the squad who are coming on and starting games. It’s a great opportunity, but it’s up to the older ones and the coaching staff to try and lead them, keep them on the right path and we’ll get through this.

“We’ve got a really good squad here, we’re just in a situation where we have 11 first team guys out injured. Once they start to come back and we drip feed them in, then the results will come.”

Neilson confirmed that Haring had come through the worst effects of a challenge from Marley Watkins. But he’s unsure whether the Austrian will be fit to face Celtic.

“It was a real worry but he’s settled and come through that,” he said. “The medical staff are looking after him and he’ll get assessed over the next couple of days. We’ll go through the concussion protocols and see where he is.

“He’ll be touch and go for Saturday. I think it’s a five or six day turnaround but to be honest, I don’t know the ins and outs of it. The most