Hearts were rocked by two injuries during their Premiership draw with Aberdeen on Sunday.
The Jambos earned a point against the high-flying Dons but at the expense of Frankie Kent and Stephen Kingsley leaving the field of play.
Kingsley stepped in for the suspended James Penrice. However, he was stretchered off in the first-half with a hamstring problem.
Crucial centre-back Kent was the other casualty with a quad issue forcing him off the Tynecastle field.
Craig Halkett was the man to replace Kingsley at the back after around half an hour of play – but the 29-year-old wasn’t exactly fully fit himself.
Craig Halkett battled through pain for Hearts
In an interview with the Edinburgh Evening News, Halkett explained that he felt a nerve pain in his back on the Saturday and had doubts over whether he could play a part against Aberdeen.
But when called upon, he managed to battle through the pain due to how desperate he has been to play more games for Hearts.
He said: “Just on Saturday, the training, it was more kind of like the top of my glute and my back. It was like a nervy pain. Like a muscle injury. It was just a weird one.
“I kind of felt it Saturday and coming in early on Sunday morning. I thought I’d have been alright, but obviously once I got into the game I just felt it again a wee bit. But luckily I managed to get through it, and that’s what it is.
“Listen, I’ve been desperate to play games for the last six, seven, eight weeks. I was never going to come off. It was just one I wanted to suck up and get through it.
“I came in earlier to see the physios. Obviously I felt better than I did on Saturday, on Sunday morning. As I warmed up before the game, I felt it a wee bit, but it was just one of those ones.
“It’s always your luck when you feel something like that, that something unfortunately happens to someone in the starting XI and you had to come on. It was one of those ones, I just kind of got through it.
“You just wanted to get through to the end and make sure nothing else happened. This is something that hopefully will clear up within a couple of days, and I can just look forward and hopefully look to play the next couple of weeks.”
Halkett handed game time opportunity
With Kingsley and Kent now set to be sidelined – for how long, it’s not sure yet – it gives Halkett a chance to get a run in Neil Critchley’s team during a busy December period.
Halkett has been largely sat on the bench this season with Kent and Kye Rowles the preferred central defensive partnership.
He played three consecutive 90 minutes in the Premiership in September and actually scored against St Mirren, which turned out to be Steven Naismith’s last game as Jambos boss.
Injuries have been a well-known issue for Halkett, however, so he’ll be hoping this fresh back issue isn’t going to be long-term.