Elliot was making his first appearance this season

Hearts striker Calum Elliot will be sidelined for up to eight weeks with knee cartilage damage.

The 22-year-old is expected to undergo surgery after he was stretched away just seven minutes after coming off the bench against Rangers on Sunday.

The forward was making his first appearance of the campaign at the weekend after being diagnosed with a rare congenital heel problem.

Elliot scored twice in 13 appearances for Hearts last season.

"The time frame is not set in stone but it's looking like eight weeks for Calum at the moment," manager Csaba Laszlo told the club website.

"He will visit a specialist as soon as possible and he will confirm the best course of treatment.

"This sort of injury normally requires surgery so we'll just have to wait and see and hopefully he can come back as quickly as possible."

On a more positive note for the Tynecastle side, influential midfielders Laryea Kingston and Andrew Driver could both be in contention for Thursday's Europa League second leg tie against Dinamo Zagreb.

If they fail to make the European clash, the pair, who have not featured this term, should be involved for Sunday's trip to St Johnstone.

Kingston has already trained with the first team for a couple of days, while Driver rejoined the rest of the squad on Tuesday.

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