Hearts look at goalkeeper market after injury narrows Derek McInnes' options

Hearts boss Derek McInnes admits the club are “having a look” at goalkeepers after injury to Ryan Fulton left the squad short of cover between the posts.

Craig Gordon has been a long-term absentee, leaving Fulton as back-up to Zander Clark but a groin injury means he will be sidelined for a while.

The club have moved to recall Liam McFarlane from his loan at Alloa, and have 23-year-old Harry Stone in reserve but McInnes is still considering the recruitment of an experienced keeper.

“Yeah, we’re looking,” he said. “I think it would be remiss not to at the minute, so we’re just having a look.

“Whether we can land one that we feel can come in, we’ll see. But with Ryan’s injury, it’s probably kind of accelerated that.”

Hearts had enjoyed a strong start to the season but suffered a setback with their Premier Sports Cup exit to St Mirren last weekend. As he prepared his side for the visit of Motherwell in the Premiership on Saturday, McInnes laughed off a question about whether the bubble had burst after a swell of optimism at Tynecastle.

“We’re fine,” he said. “Other people might need to lift their spirits, but we’re fine.

“I’m not going to have this negativity hanging about. At Hearts, we need to be ready to bounce back quickly. We need to have really positive mindsets across the board and move quickly on to the next one.

“My bubble’s not burst. Your bubble might have burst, but my bubble is absolutely bubbling, so we’re good.”

The manager accepted that it was disappointed to have one chance of silverware closed off but insisted there was a lot going for the team and they would continue in a positive manner.

“I’m not going to try and diminish the performance and the disappointment because we set ourselves up to try and be a good cup team this season,” he said. “We lost to a team who finished above us last year, away from home, on penalties.

“We were the better team for 75 minutes, I felt. I’m disappointed we never forced the issue and got the winning goal before we went to penalties.

“But I am totally focused on making sure that we continue what’s been a good start. We’ve got a lot going for us here, and it’s important that we try and maximise that.

“And maximising that is trying to keep the positivity within the boys and the support, keep the whole thing moving along.”