Heart of Midlothian

Hearts are preparing for more injury woe this week as they await scans on defenders Harry Milne and Christian Borchgrevink while they may have to wait another month for midfielder Oisin McEntee's return. (Edinburgh Evening News, external)

Celtic-supporting former winger David Templeton has revealed then manager Neil Lennon tried to persuade him to snub a move to Rangers in 2012, but Hearts said he would not play for them again if he did not accept the six-figure transfer and instead waited to run out his contract to join their Glasgow rivals. (STV Radio Football Podcast, external)

Read Tuesday's Scottish Gossip in full.

Andrew Petrie
BBC Sport Scotland

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It's not the first time in recent campaigns that Hearts have found themselves plugging square pegs into round holes to cope with a mounting injury list.

After overcoming a pile-up earlier in the season, head coach Wouter Vrancken has been hit by his second mini-crisis caused by absentees.

Eight first-team players are currently crocked - five in defence and three in central midfield.

Christian Borchgrevink injured his hamstring in Trabzon, while first-choice left-back Harry Milne suffered a serious-looking knee injury on the same trip.

Hearts were already without centre-back Stuart Findlay and defensive hybrid Oisin McEntee for the trip to Turkey, with neither travelling because of groin and calf problems respectively.

Brazilian midfielder Ageu has suffered another injury, described rather mysteriously as a "muscle injury", while Blair Spittal and Tom Renaud are both out longer term with ankle knocks. Craig Halkett's return date following a ruptured Achilles remains unknown.

There are only four fit defenders on the books for Vrancken to choose from, yet he has picked one of them in midfield for each of the past two games.

That's because Jordi Altena has been preferred to partner Tomas Magnusson, with regular midfielder Laurent Mendy also nursing a niggle. Altena, more often seen at right-back, played in midfield at times last season and also did so in his native Netherlands.

"The middle of the pitch is a real problem area, the amount of players they've got out injured," former Hearts player Andy Halliday said on Premier Sports. "My argument is, I actually think Jordi Altena is better in there. Defensively, at right-back, he gets caught out at times."

That has meant Rogers Mato, the Ugandan winger known for his speed, has had to deputise at both left-back and right-back. So far, he's kept former Liverpool star Mo Salah and Motherwell's left side fairly quiet, earning plaudits in the process.

"I don't have a choice!" Mato joked in his post-match interview. "It's the manager's choice - look at the injuries.

"I need to be there for the team, to help them in any way. I'll play any position and give 100% to help my team-mates win.

"We just need to give it our all, whoever comes. I'll play against Mo Salah, I'll play against anyone."

It's quite the attitude, and it shows why Vrancken trusts him.

"Mato is somebody you can count on," he said. "You see in the one-v-one duels, he is the best offensive player in those situations. I'm really happy he played a good game again."

He's not wrong. No Hearts player made or won more tackles than Mato at Fir Park. He was involved in more duels than any of his defensive colleagues, winning eight out of 11, while still creating two chances.

While Calvin Miller did well at left-back in earlier wins against Dundee United and Inverness this season, a place in the backline now seems to be Mato's to keep.

We asked for your views after a depleted Hearts side secured a rare away win at Motherwell on Sunday.

Here's what some of you had to say:

Jim: A gutsy performance from a makeshift Hearts XI that keeps us in touch with the top two in the league. The weather conditions were awful and contributed to some wayward passes and missed chances. However, we appear not to have added to our long injury list and hopefully can put a strong team on the park against Rangers in midweek.

Graeme: A very good, battling away performance in tough conditions for Hearts. A lot is made of our away record, and it should be better, but with Sunday's win we now have the joint third-best away record in the league this season, behind the Old Firm, so it shows that away wins are hard to come by and not many other teams are doing much better! It sets up a big one at home to Rangers on Wednesday.

Richard: Somehow, we are still throwing punches and winning rounds - a true testament to the squad and the work ethic the manager has built. The players are performing miracles, all things considered. Bring on Hearts B on Wednesday!

Liam: Another 17 attempts on our goal and, if not for very poor finishing and decision-making from Motherwell, another cricket-score defeat could have occurred. Wouter has to address how shockingly bad we are out of possession and how easy we are to get at if he wants to progress this side.

Steve: Relieved to get the three points. Claudio Braga worked his socks off, and Malachi Fagan-Walcott and Stephen Kingsley did a sterling job, but we badly need someone capable of playing right-back, otherwise we'll get hammered on Wednesday. Stephen Kingsley is capable, and Calvin Miller has covered at left-back before, but we need a tighter defence.

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Are Hearts destined for "another really strong season" under Wouter Vrancken? Former Scottish Premiership midfielder Kevin Thomson believes so.

Following a humiliating 7-1 defeat at Celtic and a European away defeat to Trabzonspor, a depleted Hearts side responded with a hard-fought win at Motherwell on Sunday.

Former Rangers and Hibernian player Thomson referenced that Hearts face a demanding schedule after qualifying for the Conference League and reaching the Premier Sports Cup semi-finals, where they will face Edinburgh rivals Hibs.

But he was full of praise for Belgian coach Vrancken, who has overcome a challenging start to his reign.

"I think the new manager's come in and changed the whole style," Thomson said, pointing to the significant turnover of players in a squad that came within minutes of winning the title last season.

Speaking on the BBC's Scottish Football Podcast, he added: "To then have almost a whole new squad and do what he's doing, I think, is testament to him being a good manager, and I think Hearts will have another really strong season.

"To have to go to Celtic Park last week off the back of a European night was probably the worst fixture you could have, and obviously Celtic put them to the sword.

"You could argue that maybe a 7-1 scoreline flattered Celtic a wee bit and was a wee bit harsh on Hearts.

"But I think they're a good team. I still think it's going to be a really hard season for them, and I did feel that, if Hearts were going to have any sort of serious credentials domestically, they would have to go to Motherwell and win, and they did that."

Watch Hearts secure a rare away win at struggling Motherwell. (UK only)

Calvin Miller's late goal sealed a hard-fought win for Hearts over Motherwell and secured their first win outside of Edinburgh in the Scottish Premiership since January.

Read the full match report here

Have your say on the game via this link

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Hearts head coach Wouter Vrancken: "I think it was a massive victory, a massive three points.

"After the long travel and the massive game we played on Thursday, with only two days rest, battling together and fighting together like this, I was happy to see it.

"There were moments where we played well but also moments, because of the circumstances, where it wasn't possible to have quality in the game then you have to fight together. In these moments you have to fight for a clean sheet also. I'm happy the players rewarded themselves today.

"When you see players out of position and doing the right things, you're happy to see that. We had eight injuries, all of which are starting XI players, so I was happy to see other players pick up."

Jordi Altena is happy to play either at right-back or in midfield amid a mounting injury crisis at Hearts. (Edinburgh Evening News), external

Read the rest of Sunday's Scottish gossip.

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Motherwell are set to have Oscar Priestman and Regan Charles-Cook back in contention. Callum Hendry and Paul McGinn are out but continue to progress towards a return.

Hearts are expected to be without Harry Milne (knee), Christian Borchgrevink (hamstring), Oisin McEntee (muscle), Stuart Findlay (groin), Ageu (muscle), Craig Halkett (Achilles), Blair Spittal (shin) and Tom Renaud (ankle).

But Amadou Ba-Sy could be involved after not being part of the European squad.

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Rogers Mato has revealed he only discovered he would be filling in at left-back for Hearts on the morning of their Europa League defeat by Trabzonspor.

The Ugandan winger was tasked with marking former Liverpool star Mo Salah amid an injury crisis which has left Hearts without several first-team players.

Salah scored a first half penalty and assisted Franculino Dju as the Turkish outfit won 2-0, but Mato equipped himself well in an unfamiliar role.

And Mato was pleased he didn't get more of a warning from head coach Wouter Vrancken.

"He didn't tell me the night before, he told me in the morning," Mato said

"Because if he told me at night, maybe I would have lost my sleep because [Salah is] the best player in Africa, he was the top scorer in the Premier League, so he's a top player.

"It's a dream come true and it boosts my confidence as a player and as a team because they have a good team.

"It's cool to play against him, you get all these experiences from such players and you saw how he moves one touch and he moves quickly, so marking him is a little bit harder.

"And now I know what defenders and full-backs go on when I try to take them on."

And Mato says he is happy to play more minutes at left-back in the absence of frst choice Harry Milne.

"So many injuries, but it's what God decided, so we have to cope with it," he said.

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• Motherwell have spent a league-low 16.7% of their Scottish Premiership games this season winning, while only Celtic have spent a higher proportion of their matches in the lead (64.8%) than Hearts (45.4%)

• Each of Motherwell's past three home league games against Hearts have been drawn, with two of those finishing goalless.

• Hearts are unbeaten in seven league meetings with Motherwell (W3 D4) since a 3-1 defeat in August 2024.

• Motherwell have lost five successive league games, last losing more in a row in April 2003 (6).

• Hearts have won just two of their past 12 away league games (D3 L7), losing 7-1 at Celtic last time out. Home and away, Hearts had shipped just six goals in their previous seven league matches before that defeat.

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We asked for your views on Hearts' 2-0 defeat away to a Mo Salah-inspired Trabzonspor in the Conference League.

Here's what some of you said:

Amy: Always a massive ask against a very capable team - and one of the tournament favourites - but I felt we proved we deserved to be on the pitch with them. Referees in Europe are a lottery and last night's was pretty bad. We deserved a penalty. Always seems VAR calls against us take an age and when it's for us they are cleared within milliseconds.

Chris: Good performance but still a loss at the end of the day. Thankful that we weren't on the end of another doing, given what happened on Sunday as I feared that might have kickstarted a real downturn in performance.

Jim: Looked a lot better in defence but missed chances cost Hearts again.

Chris: I'm proud of the shift the team put in considering the opposition, injuries and that result at Celtic. But I can't help but think we showed them too much respect meaning we doubted ourselves in front of goal. A little more arrogance and I think we pinch a goal and ask some questions.

Steve: What a shift from Rogers Mato - he didn't really give Salah an inch for most of the game. I'm hopeful the injury crisis we find ourselves in creates a siege mentality among the players. Lacked confidence in attack but did not embarrass ourselves on the European stage which was vital after the weekend.

Kristoffer: On this week's episode of injury bingo - in all seriousness with our injury crisis this was a very respectful defeat. We competed, showed a mature understanding of game management and were only undone by a penalty and moment of brilliance. All is not lost.

Jim: Greatly improved performance from a team significantly affected by injuries to important players. The result was not helped by some curious and inconsistent decisions by the officials. The team, including the manager have obviously learned much from the shambolic performance at Celtic Park and, we supporters, can put that result down as a one-off and look foward to the rest of the season with some hope.

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Hearts defender Harry Milne, 29, is expected to miss the rest of the season with a torn anterior cruciate ligament. (Sun, external)

And right-back Christian Borchgrevink, 27, picked up a hamstring injury in Hearts' Conference League defeat by Trabzonspor in Turkey on Thursday. (Edinburgh Evening News - subscription required, external)

Friday's Scottish gossip

Mohamed Salah scored one and set up the other as Trabzonspor proved too strong for Hearts in the Conference League.

The Liverpool legend dinked in a first-half penalty before teeing up Franculino Dju to fire in a magnificent second after the interval in an efficient display from the Turkish side.

Have your say on the game here.

Read the match report here.

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Hearts head coach Wouter Vrancken tells BBC Scotland: "Against a good team like this, as I told you already, they paid so much money for new players and even got Salah on a free transfer, so they have a lot of quality in their team, individual quality.

"But what we showed against this individual quality was a real team today.

"I was really proud of the performance."

On starting Rogers Mato at fullback: "Yeah, I just talked with him today, actually, because Harry dropped out yesterday.

"So I talked with him today, but he was really clean and clear in his conversation

"No problem, he said, and I told him a bit about his position, about also guarding Salah.

"I knew that he could match up the pace there and also I know that Rogers, when he's focused, that he's really strong in one-on-one duels especially for an offensive player.

"So happy to see that it worked out, because if Salah scores two, three times, everybody says it was a wrong decision and not a good one, but yeah, you have to have confidence in some guys.

"And when you see some guys playing out of position because the need was there, we had only one midfielder left to play, six injured.

"So also there, Jordi Altena, his performance out of position was also great.

"So happy to see those things happening and that we can bounce back from the result of last weekend and have a good team performance."

Brian McLauchlin
BBC Sport Scotland Senior Reporter

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Hearts left-back Harry Milne could face a lengthy lay-off after suffering a knee injury in training on Wednesday.

Milne misses out on Hearts' Conference League game at Trabzonspor and will undergo a scan to determine the severity of the damage, amid reports it is a suspected ACL injury., external

"Yeah, unbelievable actually, because without contact, he got an injury," head coach Wouter Vrancken told BBC Scotland.

"So we'll see probably when we're back when we can make a scan to see how it is.

"It's crazy because now it's not about fatigue, it's not about contact, it's not about anything, this with him is just bad luck now. It's his knee."

Vrancken added that midfielder Laurent Mendy and defender Stephen Kingsley have dropped to the bench as they are both carrying knocks from the defeat to Celtic on Sunday.

"I don't want anybody to be out long term, especially when you see now, also with Laurent Mendy not being totally fit after a kick he got at the weekend," he said.

"So we'll see if we're going to need him because it's always a risk there with him.

"With Kingsley, same with another area, but also there it's a big risk to play him so many games because of his history, of course."

Brian McLauchlin
BBC Sport Scotland Senior Reporter

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Teenage striker James Wilson is relishing the opportunity to test himself against Mo Salah in Hearts' Conference League clash with Trabzonspor tonight.

Wilson has urged his team-mates to park the disappointment of their 7-1 trouncing by Celtic as they look to bounce back against a side boasting significant experience and quality.

"We just have to draw a line under it," he said.

"This game is a great opportunity in a great stadium against a good team, and we're excited.

"We want to give the best of ourselves and try to get a result.

"It's about having the mentality to look forward to it. I'm not going into the game scared. I'm excited and happy to be here.

"This is where you want to be. You want to be playing in these big games against big players. That's what motivates me."

For Wilson, the occasion is another milestone in his development, having increased his involvement in the first team since returning to Hearts in the summer from a loan spell at Tottenham.

"I'm happy to be playing minutes again," the 19-year-old added. "I didn't play a lot last season.

"I'm happy to help the team when called upon and do whatever the coach asks of me. My responsibility is to give my best for the team."

With his contract due to expire at the end of the season, Wilson says his immediate focus remains on football rather than his longer-term future.

"I think it's still early. There's a lot of football to be played this season and I'm enjoying my football," he said.

"I'm playing and scoring a few goals, and I'm happy with how things are going at the moment."

Brian McLauchlin
BBC Sport Scotland Senior Reporter

The heavy defeat at Celtic Park should serve as a wake-up call for everyone at Hearts.

There has been progress under Wouter Vrancken, but the Belgian has made it clear his side remain some way short of where he wants them to be.

Sunday's result was a stark reminder of that reality.

There were positives to take from the underlying statistics, but numbers can be misleading. Hearts cannot afford to present the champions with the kind of opportunities they did in Glasgow and expect to escape punishment.

Mistake after mistake was ruthlessly exploited. Those errors must be addressed quickly, because another demanding test awaits.

Trabzonspor have invested heavily in their squad, spending £60m on new recruits over the summer, and have started the campaign in impressive goalscoring form.

Thomas Reis' side have netted 18 goals in their past six matches, conceding just three. Hearts will need to be far more disciplined and defensively resilient if they are to leave Turkey with a result.

When the Conference League fixtures were announced, this trip was immediately identified as arguably the toughest of Hearts' six league-phase assignments. Anything they bring home would be a welcome bonus.

But the European challenge is only part of the story.

After returning from Turkey, Hearts must switch their attention to two difficult Premiership fixtures, with a trip to Fir Park followed by former boss Derek McInnes' return to Tynecastle with Rangers.

The Celtic Park defeat was a painful reminder of how far Hearts still have to go. The response over the next week will tell us much more about the direction in which they are heading.

Forward James Wilson is not unduly concerned about his Heart of Midlothian contract, with the 19-year-old Scotland forward in the final year of his current deal. (Edinburgh Evening News - subscription required, external)

Thursday's Scottish gossip

Brian McLauchlin
BBC Sport Scotland Senior Reporter

Image source, Getty Images

Hearts head coach Wouter Vrancken has been speaking to the media as his side prepare to face Trabzonspor in the Conference League in Turkey on Thursday.

Here are the key points:

• Centre-half Stuart Findlay and utility man Oisen McEntee have not travelled with the squad.

• Vrancken has compared Tranbzonspor with Benfica, the Portuguese side who thrashed Hearts 6-1 in Europa League qualifying and also beat Celtic 4-1 this season.

• He says former Liverpool forward Mo Salah is not the only top player they need to be wary off.

• The Belgian coach says he has never been at a club with so many injuries in the same area at the same time.

• He insists they will stick by "their principles" in terms of the type of football he wants the team to play despite Sunday's 7-1 hammering by Celtic.

• He says "you can't ensure" the team will play without fear, but that is the plan.