PRESSLEY'S FUTURE IN THE BALANCE

Hearts head coach Valdas Ivanauskas expects an announcement to be made on the future of captain Steven Pressley within the next 48 hours after he was omitted from the squad for Saturday's trip to St Mirren.

The Scotland international returned to the first team last weekend at Inverness after being dropped for the draw at Falkirk at his own request amid reports he had uncovered a plot to strip him of the captaincy.

The 33-year-old had previously revealed "significant unrest" in the dressing room under the regime of majority shareholder Vladimir Romanov.

Pressley was on the bench for the home defeat by Rangers two weeks ago but received support from around 200 fans who demonstrated outside Tynecastle after the game.

The situation appeared to have been resolved last week at Inverness and Romanov described the central defender as the "cement" in the team.

Now, however, Pressley's future again appears to be in doubt.

Ivanauskas told BBC Scotland: "If you want to ask me about Steven's situation, it will be tomorrow or Monday."

Midfielder Paul Hartley, who was alongside Pressley when he made his public statement in October, captained the team at Love Street.

Taken from sportinglife.com