Craig Halkett is looking to make up for lost time in Heart of Midlothian’s Conference League campaign.

The centre-back now coming out the other side after two years of injury hell, including knee surgery earlier this year.

Around this time in 2022, Halkett made his return from injury only to be forced off 20 minutes into the Conference League group stage fixture with RFS in Latvia. The month before he limped off during the Europa League play-off defeat in Zurich.

The immediate concern is this weekend's home clash with Ross County, as the Tynecastle Park outfit search for their first win of the season at the 10th attempt.

But Halkett can’t help but look ahead to the Conference League campaign and the chance to be part of some memorable nights akin to the ones he’s had to watch from the sidelines.

“That was one of the main reasons I wanted to sign for a team like Hearts to compete in Europe [and] in semi-finals and finals,” he said.

“The first year that we got into Europe is where I picked up the start of injuries and missed a lot of it and it was hard sitting watching some of the nights at Tynecastle and away in these nice countries playing against some top teams. So to be involved in it this year will be really good and I'm really looking forward to it.”

Reflecting on that night in Riga, where Hearts would go on to win 2-0, Halkett added: “I came off right at the very start of the game and it was probably because it was European football, I worked that wee bit harder and probably rushed it back a wee bit because I was that desperate to be involved in the European games.

“I've come off again and then ended up missing the rest of the campaign, so it was disappointing but again obviously this year I'm in a better place and I'm ready to go.”

That starts with Saturday in the bread and butter of the Scottish Premiership, under the guidance of interim manager Liam Fox following the departure of Steven Naismith.

Hearts sit bottom of the division with a solitary point from six matches Halkett has now started the last two matches and scored the Jambos’ only goal from the last four games in Saturday’s 2-1 defeat to St Mirren.

The 29-year-old now feels he is getting up to speed after so long long out.

“Maybe if you tweak your hamstring and are out for two weeks, but you've been playing for the last five months it's not going to take you that long, a game or two,” he said.

“But I think if you're out for a long time it's not so much the fitness because that's a thing that you can get as fit as you want on the training park, it's just being in a match and the match environment and the things that happen in a match.

“More so mentally and just positionally, just the things that you want to get comfortable with, things that just happen second nature rather than you having to think about it when you're back.

“It's more those sort of things that kind of take a wee bit of time and if you've been out for a year or 18 months, it does take that a wee bit longer.

“I've been back in, had a full pre-season, played loads of minutes in friendlies and the last couple of weeks have been good and I'm feeling like I'm getting there.”

Of all his fitness complaints in recent seasons, Halkett’s knee injury was the most difficult to overcome.

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Not just because of the sheer length of time out for the Hearts defender, but also due to the psychological blow of learning how long you will be sidelined for.

"Finding out that day that you're going to be out of action for nine, 10, 11 months was the hardest one to deal with. I think just in general, that sort of injury, it's never just 'you're out nine months or 10 months, back training and it's plain sailing from there'.

“I think if you look all over the world where people do that injury, there's a lot of hiccups on the way and unfortunately I was one of them when I had to get a tidy-up operation in the March. It's just kind of getting over that but once I did, thankfully now everything's been good.

“I worked hard with the physios and sports scientists and I'm in a good place. Hopefully, the injury troubles I've had are behind me.”