Beni Baningime is in a "better position" to return to the Heart of Midlothian squad for the clash with St Johnstone in the Scottish Premiership on Saturday.

The midfielder has missed the last three matches due to illness. He had trained ahead of the Kilmarnock game during the week but wasn't ready to rejoin the squad.

Neil Critchley confirmed he has continued to train this week building up to what is a big match for Hearts in Perth after dropping back to the bottom of the table following defeat to Killie on Wednesday.

"No one was injured the other night so we're hopeful that Beni will be [back]," the head coach said. 

"He's done a couple of days of training so he's in a better position to be available for this game but other than that, we are as we were the other night."

Critchley, having watched the game back, felt it was obvious what went wrong.

"If you look at the first half performance, even up until they scored really, we were in control of the game and there were so many positive things to look at and think about and then just not doing too basic moments of the game, not defending well enough, that's what's cost us the game," he explained.

"I've seen the words reality check, probably was in some aspects. I'm not daft, I watched a lot of the games before I came here so I know some of the issues that have been apparent. There's a fine line between winning and losing football matches and what happens in both penalty boxes ultimately decides what happens."

The outcome of the game and the other night, we weren't good enough in both boxes.