Ton eye hearts kid John

Stewart, 20, is a graduate of the Tynecastle club’s youth system and made his debut against Celtic at the end of the season in 2009.

Ton are facing an injury crisis in central midfield with Graeme Holmes and Fouad Bachirou both injured and the temporary acquisition of Stewart could alleviate this problem.

But although the former Scotland under-17 international impressed during yesterday’s 2-2 draw, Ton boss Allan Moore, right, admitted an offer is far from certain.

He told the Tele: “We had John Stewart in from Hearts and he played quite well and he’s someone we will ask the chairman about.

“I think Hearts might be looking to get him out on loan because he’s 20 now and needs games, but we’re not just going to bring players in just for the sake of it.

“The central midfield position is a bit of a worry as we’ve only got Michael Tidser and Allan Jenkins available there at the moment, because Graeme Holmes and Fouad Bachirou are still struggling.

“It’s a bit of a worry that if one of them gets injured then we will be short in the middle of the park and we’re covered everywhere else at the moment.

“It’s one we will have a look at and we’ll have a chat with Hearts and see what the situation is with the boy, and a chat with the chairman and see what the situation is money-wise.

“We told the boy he played well, but we can’t promise him anything because we already have a squad here.” Of the game itself, Moore was delighted with the performance of his players despite surrendering a two-goal advantage and seeing Sean Fitzharris limp off with a thigh strain.

He said: “We played really well as usual, and especially in the first half the boys played really well.

“Peter Weatherson scored a penalty and Stewart Kean scored a really good goal.

“We played really good football and I’m happy with that.

“They took on board what we’d told them in training and they did really well.”