Calem Nieuwenhof knows patience and determination needed to make Hearts midfield

Calem Nieuwenhof knows he will have to show patience and determination to break into an in-form Hearts midfield – but he has displayed those traits in abundance over a frustrating 11 months.

The Australian saw his debut season in Scotland cut short by a hamstring injury in early March last year but the problem proved more complicated than first thought as tendon issues delayed his return to fitness.

Only now is the 23-year-old ready to play again and he is looking for his first action under head coach Neil Critchley when Hearts take on St Mirren in the Scottish Gas Scottish Cup fifth round in Paisley on Monday night.

Nieuwenhof said: “It’s been tough because, obviously as a footballer, I want to play football. I love the game, I love competing and to go such a long time without that, it’s been a tough, almost year now.

“But the support from my team-mates and the staff here has been incredible. I couldn’t thank them enough.

“It can be a bit tough as well having family on the other side of the planet. But I was lucky enough to have them come over and be with me and support me a bit.”

The former Sydney FC and Western Sydney Wanderers player added: “Initially it was a hamstring injury and I ended up having a couple of recurrences and it just was really niggly because it involved the tendon. From there it sort of got longer and longer.

“It was really frustrating for me to be just having such small setbacks but for it to sort of escalate into such a long time.

“Now I’ve been feeling good and just so happy to be back on the pitch again and, hopefully, being able to play again very soon.”

When asked how he got through the toughest times, he said: “You keep on going. I was extremely patient. As a footballer, when you’re injured, you don’t really have any choice other than to knuckle down and just do all you can do to get back.

“That’s what I’m really focusing on and now I’m in a good place where I feel good in my body.

“I’m not taking it for granted, and I know that, now I’m fit, I need to stay fit. So that’s what my focus is at the moment.”

Hearts travel to Paisley on the back of a seven-match unbeaten run and fresh from a 6-0 away win against Dundee.

Nieuwenhof said: “I want to get back to it as soon as I can. I feel like I’m in a good spot at the moment and I’m ready to come back in and compete.

“I know it’s going to be a tough job to get back into the team with the form we’re in at the moment. The midfield has been excellent recently, Cammy (Devlin) and Beni (Baningime). So it’s a really hard squad to break into.

“But they’re all really good issues for our team and I think we all drive each other really well in training.

“We all just want each other to do as well as we can so we all push each other. And that’s a really good environment to be in.”