Latest news with #CraigHalkett
Scotsman
20-07-2025
- Sport
- Scotsman
Premier Sports Cup: Projected last 16 and Hibs and Hearts predicted opponents
Hearts are within touching distance of joining Hibs in the last 16 of the Premier Sports Cup following Saturday's 4-0 win against Stirling Albion. A Craig Halkett brace and a goal apiece from Claudio Braga and Alexandros Kyzridis all found the net at the Forthbank Stadium to take Derek McInnes' side remained six points clear at the top of the Group E table. Results so far mean Hearts are all but certain to be seeded alongside Hibs, Premiership champions Celtic, runners up Rangers, Scottish Cup winners Aberdeen and Europa Conference League competitors Dundee United when the last 16 draw takes place next weekend. But who else is likely to join the Edinburgh rivals in the last 16, who will be seeded and who are Hibs and Hearts predicted to face in the next stage of the competition?
Edinburgh Reporter
20-07-2025
- Sport
- Edinburgh Reporter
Halkett at the double as Hearts hit four at Stirling
Craig Halkett netted a glory double as hearts swept Stirling Albion aside 4-0 at Forthbank in the Premier Sports Cup, Group E. The 30-year-old defender, whose recent career has been dogged by injury, opened the scoring after 13 minutes and completed the tally with ten minutes of regulation time remaining. Halkett (pictured by Nigel Duncan) also recorded an assist on Hearts' second netted by newcomer Claudio Braga. And Alex Kyziridis scored on his debut and also set up the opener for Halkett in the comfortable win against the Scottish League Two outfit. Three of the Jambos goals came in the first 38 minutes and the victory consolidated the Jambos at the top of the section with a perfect record of three straight wins. Derek McInnes has seen his men score 12 goals against Dunfermline Athletic, Hamilton Academical and now Stirling with only one in reply. Dunfermline are second in the section with three points, the same as third-placed Hamilton and Dumbarton, who are fourth, with Stirling Albion propping up the section. The Forthbank win also earned the Men in Maroon their second clean sheet in a week after their 4-0 victory at Broadwood against Hamilton and the Gorgie men complete their schedule with a home game against Dumbarton on Wednesday (kick-off 19.45). Like this: Like Related
Scotsman
19-07-2025
- Sport
- Scotsman
Two Hearts injuries as Derek McInnes gives an update after Premier Sports Cup win
Stirling Albion 0-4 Hearts at Forthbank Two Hearts players are nursing injuries and will be assessed by Riccarton medical staff following the 4-0 Premier Sports Cup win against Stirling Albion at Forthbank. Two goals from Craig Halkett, and one each for Claudio Braga and debutant Alexandros Kyziridis secured a convincing victory for the Edinburgh club, who top Group E with a 100 per centr record.
Scotsman
07-05-2025
- Sport
- Scotsman
Craig Halkett's fight to stay at Hearts amid transfer talk and fitness concerns
Watch more of our videos on and on Freeview 262 or Freely 565 Visit Shots! now Tynecastle defender battled back into the team for the Scottish Premiership match at Ross County Sign up to our Hearts newsletter Sign up Thank you for signing up! Did you know with a Digital Subscription to Edinburgh News, you can get unlimited access to the website including our premium content, as well as benefiting from fewer ads, loyalty rewards and much more. Learn More Sorry, there seem to be some issues. Please try again later. Submitting... Presence and physique are two of Craig Halkett's strongest attributes, perhaps leading you to assume that nothing rocks him. The Hearts centre-back is commanding both literally and figuratively, and many a Scottish Premiership striker would attest to him being an uncompromising character. All of that is fair comment. However, Halkett is nearing the end of a disheartening campaign, one in which he thought his Tynecastle career may be over. Emotionally, he has felt unsettled and had to dig deep into his own personal reserves to recover. Injuries have restricted him to 18 appearances so far this season after 11 last term and just seven the year before. It is, by some distance, insufficient game time for someone at the age of 29 and supposedly in his prime. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Both last year and in January this year, the prospect of Halkett leaving Hearts grew. He is one of the club's higher earners having been there six seasons, new centre-backs arrived to add greater competition than ever in his position, and his own fitness problems seemed relentless at times. It took all his strength of character to battle back, helped by physios and sports scientists at Riccarton, and reclaim a place in the starting line-up. That finally happened at Ross County on Saturday. Speaking exclusively to the Edinburgh News, Halkett describes the frustration over his fitness and the doubts which lingered over his Hearts future. In keeping with that physicality, he will not be phased out of Tynecastle easily. 'I was like that even at the start of the season,' he reveals. 'I had to have conversations with the coaching staff to say that I wasn't just happy sitting here in the bench. I wanted to fight for my place and, when the opportunity came, I said I wanted to take it. 'I wasn't going to be one of those players that would just sit there and sit in the bench and, if I wasn't playing, I was just going to stay. Some people might think you're sitting at Hearts and they are a massive club and you're happy just to stay here. Well, it wasn't me. I wanted to play football, especially after the last few years I've had since I've had my knee injury. Playing football was so important to me. I remember it looked for a period that I wasn't going to be at Hearts but, basically, I've got my head down and I've worked hard and thankfully I got back in the team on Saturday. 'It's been a hugely frustrating season for me. I've not played anywhere near enough minutes that I wanted to play, or that I saw myself playing at the start of the season, but I've just had to get my head down. I've worked hard and I'm feeling the fittest I've ever been. So, it's just about waiting for an opportunity and thankfully I got it on Saturday. I feel like I performed well and hopefully I can finish the season on a higher level.' Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Christmas gift but then back to earth with a bump in New Year Fitness problems brought criticism for a player labelled with the old 'injury-prone' tag by some, so it is intriguing hearing him say that he now feels fitter than ever. Natural curiosity makes you wonder what is different this time. Halkett happily elaborates. 'Obviously, when I came back into the team just after Christmas, we played five or six games in a row and I felt good. I felt a good partnership with Jamie McCart and the last thing in my head was picking up another injury. Obviously, it was unfortunate that I did [a hamstring against Kilmarnock on 25 January]. 'Stephen Kingsley and Frankie Kent were injured at the same time and I think the rehab that we did with the medical staff and the sports scientists was really tough. I think they got us to a level that we've maybe not been at in a couple of years. They got us to a stage where, when we were coming back into training, we were probably way fitter than what we needed to be to get back involved. We'd done an extra wee bit with them, so they got us in a good position. 'Like I said, I'm feeling great. With the three of us injured at the same time, obviously that helps when you're working. You're not just doing it on your own, but we had quite a lot of football and ballwork sessions with the three of us and with the medical staff involved. So that, alongside a lot of tough running, got us into the position that we are in now.' New Hearts signings in transfer window bring huge competition Kingsley, Kent and Halkett returning to fitness means Hearts currently have seven first-team players capable of playing in central defence. The others are January signings McCart, Michael Steinwender and Harry Milne, plus Lewis Neilson. Competition for places is fierce. For Halkett, it is another challenge to rise to. 'Oh, definitely. I've been here a long time now. It's my sixth season and there have been a lot of centre-backs that came and went,' he says. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad 'Right now is probably the most stacked that the centre-back position has been with players. Every week, it's more important that you need to be at it. Your standards need to be high because you're not just going to play on a Saturday and train how you want and play the next week. You need to be at it to make sure you stay in the team. I feel like, since I came back six or seven weeks ago, that's what I've been doing and just been waiting for my time.' He contributed to an important Hearts win on Saturday whilst back in the starting line-up. Interim head coach Liam Fox oversaw a 3-1 victory at County after Ronan Hale put the hosts ahead. Lawrence Shankland's two goals and Alan Forrest's late strike demonstrated some much-needed character from the Hearts players. 'I thought we actually started the game really well. You find yourself going 1-0 down and you think: 'This has been the story all season.'' admits Halkett. 'But to just keep doing what we're doing, we had a gameplan that we worked on all week and I think we carried out pretty well. Also, I think it was important that the boys never dropped their heads. It would have been easy, obviously, with the way the season has gone, the way that the last week had been at this point for everyone. But we didn't, we showed good character. We came back, scored three good goals and thankfully in the end it was pretty comfortable three points.' Fox's plan was to simplify instructions for the squad at the end of a difficult week following head coach Neil Critchley's sacking. 'He just spoke about going back to what we had done in the past, what had worked,' explains Halkett. 'Just keeping the ball simple, keeping the passes simple, playing it wide, people running forward and just doing the simple things well. I don't think it was anything that was massively changed. It was just doing the basics really well and I think we did that. We got the ball wide, we got people running forward, we got bodies in the box, we got more shots and thankfully we got the goals.' Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Some travelling Hearts fans vented their anger at the club's board during the match, but Halkett stresses that was not a huge distraction from the task at hand. 'You don't really hear it. You're focused on the game,' he says. 'Obviously, at the time we were 1-0 down, you can hear the frustration. But the fans have paid their money, they've travelled up. I'm not going to say what they should say and what they can't say. So, for us, it doesn't really affect us. We've just got our head down and it was important for us to get back in the game.'
Edinburgh Reporter
04-05-2025
- Sport
- Edinburgh Reporter
Halkett: ‘we want to finish the season as high as we can'
Craig Halkett described the 3-1 victory over Ross County at Dingwall as 'a massive win'. The defender admitted to Hearts TV that it has been a tough week for everybody involved with the club and the 29-year-old added: 'Everyone will be honest enough to say that the season has not been anywhere near what we had hoped. 'Today (Saturday) was an important win. We knew, coming up here (to Dingwall), it would not be easy. The boys have trained well all week and the boys dug in deep. We started well, found ourselves a goal behind. We showed great character, scored some goals and got three points. 'It was important. We had a good number of fans who came up and we put on a good performance and made sure we won the game.' He admitted that not making the top six in the William Hill Premiership was disappointing and 'hugely frustrating' for everyone, but added: 'We want to finish the season as high as we can and look forward to next season.' PICTURE: Craig Halkett (left) in training Like this: Like Related
