Hearts v Aberdeen: Dons boss confirms ‘frustrating’ injury to ‘important’ player ahead of Tynecastle trip

Two sides who have had difficult starts to the season go head-to-head at Tynecastle this weekend as Hearts host Aberdeen in their latest Scottish Premiership clash.

Four games into the new league seasons and the Jambos have won just one match while the Dons have yet to get their first victory of the campaign. Both clubs suffered disappointing results in Europe with Hearts exiting the UEFA Europa Conference League at the hands of PAOK while Aberdeen dropped down to the third tier competition as they lost to BK Haken in the UEFA Europa League.

It’s usually a fierce contest when these two sides face each other but the North East club will head for the capital without one of their key attacking players. Dons boss Barry Robson has confirmed that winger Shayden Morris is facing up to 10 weeks on the sidelines after suffering a hamstring injury in their 2-0 defeat to Hibs before the international break.

The 21-year old, who was very much a fringe player at Pittodrie last season but has been a regular starter since the summer, was brought on as a half time sub against the Hibees but had to come off after just six minutes on the pitch. It’s a repeat of an injury that the former Fleetwood Town man previously suffered and Robson has expressed his concerns.

He said: “It’s a bad one for Shayden and it looks like it will be 10 weeks. He had an operation yesterday and it’s frustrating. You could see how well he’s done since the start of the season for us. We made the change at half-time against Hibs and it was always the plan as we knew he could hurt them so it’s frustrating to lose him.

“It’s the exact same injury as he had but it’s the other hamstring and we wonder if it is a genetic thing. What I’ve said to him is we got you flying after the last one and we’ll get you back to that. It’s frustrating as a team as he was performing well but hopefully the kid will be okay. He was so important for us. When you play in different positions you have ideas of how you can use a player and we had a plan for him but he has ended up hurting himself.”