The Jambos’ next pre-season challenge will be against the English Championship side
Steven Naismith has given Hearts fans an update on a trio of players who have been nursing knocks through pre-season.
New signing James Penrice as well as midfielders Beni Baningime and Calem Nieuwenhof were all missing as the Jambos lost 5-1 to Tottenham Hotspur in a Tynecastle Park friendly last night. Penrice has been working his way back from a hip flexor injury picked up playing for Livingston last season.
Nieuwenhof has suffered a setback in his own recovery from a hamstring problem while Baningime has a muscle issue which kept him out last night. The next friendly the club will play which is open to spectators is away to Fleetwood a week on Saturday and it is hoped Penrice and Baningime can be involved.
But the Aussie midfielder could be a longer absentee. He is set to see a specialist on Monday when the club will find out more about his condition.
Naismith told the Edinburgh Evening News: “Penners should be involved at Fleetwood and there is hope that Beni might be involved in that. Beni has a muscle injury at the top end of his calf behind his knee. It’s not overly painful. He is at the stage of running but the worst thing we can do is push him back in too quickly and he breaks down again. We are conscious of that. He needs to get past each stage of the recovery process.
“Calem is a wee bit longer. He started to feel something, which is a bit of a setback. We are waiting to see what the outcome from the specialist is. He is going to see him on Monday. That will determine where he is at and what the process is going forward. He had an op on that injury and he got to a certain point where he has a wee feeling that it just isn’t right. When you have that feeling, normally there is something there. We have had it scanned and we are sending him to see a specialist.”
Meanwhile, the Jambos boss confirmed they will play a behind-closed-doors match at Burnley this weekend and it will take on a slightly different format. It will be 150 minutes in total, split into two 75 minute blocks which will feature two different Hearts XIs.
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