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ZALIUKAS BLOW FOR HEARTS

Marius Zaliukas - ankle injury.

Hearts manager Csaba Laszlo expects Marius Zaliukas to be out of action for up to three weeks.

The defender has been struggling with an ankle injury which forced him out of the 2-1 defeat to St Mirren, and the Lithuanian international has now been ruled out of this weekend's trip to Aberdeen.

"Marius still has inflammation in his ankle," said Laszlo. "It is not so serious but he is still in some pain and we must look to protect him.

"Maybe in two or three weeks he will be okay but for now he needs rest and then we will see how he is."

The Hearts boss is seeking an improvement in his side's away form when they make the trip to Pittodrie on Saturday.

"We have been okay at Tynecastle but away from home it is not so good," he told Hearts News.

"The Dundee United game is the only match we have not scored any goals but we must look at why we have not been taking more points away from Tynecastle.

"We have a lot of young players and this can happen, but we will be working on it this week."

(reopens) Meanwhile, midfielder Laryea Kingston has vowed to prove his fitness to Laszlo after completing his first full 90 minutes of the season.

Kingston played the whole of Ghana's World Cup qualifying defeat in Benin over the weekend.

"It's a long time since I played 90 minutes - I'm very happy I have proved my match fitness," said Kingston, who has not featured at all for Hearts this season due to a persistent knee injury.

The 28-year-old infuriated Laszlo last month by claiming he would always put his country before his club after playing for Ghana against Sudan despite being declared unfit by the Jambos.

Kingston told BBC Sport: "I've sorted things with my club and especially the manager and I'm hoping he's going to give me time to play.

"I wanted to prove to him that I'm fit.

"I'm the type of person if you have confidence in me, I'm going to deliver for you.

"It's important for him to have confidence in me.

"I'm going back and I'm going to work hard in training and I'll wait until the coach gives me a chance again.

"If I'm there and I'm proving myself in training, it depends on him if he can put me in the game - I cannot challenge him."

Kingston can understand the flak he has taken both from fans and the media over his recent conduct.

"It was a very difficult moment for me but they got me wrong, but I also understand what they wrote," said Kingston, who was recently fined four weeks' wages by Hearts after a blazing row with Laszlo unrelated to his decision to play for Ghana.

"They hadn't seen me playing because I was injured but then I was fit three weeks before the Sudan game but the manager didn't want me to play.

"The fans had it in their mind that I wasn't fit but then, when I got to the national team, I was fit.

"I was fit for three weeks before I left for the national team."