Hearts admit Kyle may need surgery for groin injury

A series of injections have been administered to help Kyle through the problem, which has now been ongoing since the turn of the year. He hobbled off against St Johnstone in the Scottish Cup on January 11 and has not played since.

The injections are only a temporary measure and, if the injury does not subside, Kyle is expected to undergo an operation by the end of the month which could potentially rule him out for most of the remainder of the season.

Jefferies wants Kyle available for Saturday's match with Hamilton, saying: "Our fingers are crossed that if he doesn't make it, he'll be back soon. We're trying to hold off an operation so there has been a series of injections which have taken time to get to the part that's causing the problem.

"The worst scenario is if there's no improvement we may have to go down the line of an operation but we hope that doesn't happen. He's like a bear with a sore head at the minute because he wants to go and play. We hoped to have him in the squad for this weekend's game against Hamilton and we're trying to hold off with surgery.

"It's a blow for Kevin because everyone knows how well he has done and how important he is to the team. However, these things happen and you have to get on with it."

There was more positive news regarding Marian Kello, who made a long-awaited inter national debut for Slovakia in last night's 2-1 defeat by Luxembourg. The goalkeeper played for the final 13 minutes as substitute and conceded the second goal on 82 minutes. However, he will be elated to finally represent his country having never played for Slovakia at any level previously.

Hearts' under-19 striker Robert Ogleby also enjoyed a successful outing at inter- national level last night.

He scored the second goal in Wales Under-21s' 2-0 victory over their Northern Ireland counterparts.