Hearts star Saulius Mikoliunas today thanked the club for helping him recover from his injury nightmare.

The winger should return to full training in the next week or so following serious knee ligament damage suffered against St Mirren in early November.

His lengthy rehabilitation has been aided by a return home to Lithuania where he worked closely with the national team's medical staff.

"I have been working really hard since then to get fit and get back as soon as possible but it was a serious injury and has taken longer than I would have liked," he said.

"I went back home and worked with a physio from the national team and I was also in regular contact with a knee specialist. I kept in touch with the Hearts medical people to let them know everything that was happening.

"I didn't need surgery but it's been the worst injury of my professional career. It has been hard being out for so long."

Speaking exclusively to the Matchday Programme for tomorrow's game against Aberdeen, Miko added: "Mentally it was great that I was able to do my rehab back home rather than in Edinburgh. I was surrounded by family and friends and they all helped me to cope with my injury.

"The club didn't have to let me go back so I was very pleased they agreed to do that."

Desperate to get back training as quickly as possible, Miko wants to make up for lost time having been sidelined for four months.

"It has been very frustrating and now the aim is to make up for lost time," he said. "Hopefully it won't be too long before I'm back in full training as I want to fight to get back my place in the team.

"My thoughts now are that I have to show the fans, the coach, everyone at Hearts that I am a good player. I am determined to do my best for the club."

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On Hearts.TV today, an exclusive interview with assistant manager Werner Burger PLUS Csaba Laszlo and Janos Balogh meet the media at Tynecastle ahead of Aberdeen's visit.