Hearts needing their most memorable result in Europe

HEARTS have enjoyed a couple of remarkable wins in Europe over the past few seasons, but if they get the result against Sparta Prague tonight which will take them through to the group stages of the UEFA Cup it would be more remarkable by far.

When they won 1-0 in Bordeaux, they went on to lose 2-0 at Tynecastle. Their victory over Basel in Switzerland was ultimately to no avail, as their other results meant they did not qualify from the group stages.

In other words, they have succeeded in one-offs where a win has not been absolutely essential to the opposition. Tonight, they are in a different situation altogether.

Hearts have overturned a 2-0 first-leg deficit in Europe before, most memorably against Lokomotiv Leipzig, but they have never done so away from home. Doing so against Sparta Prague tonight will be a truly momentous achievement, but one which Valdas Ivanauskas believes is within the compass of his side.

"It's difficult, because the first result was very negative and so was the performance," the coach said. "But in the last three games we've seen the reaction.

"The second half against Aberdeen was OK, and if we play similar we can win tomorrow."

Hearts won the three games to which Ivanauskas was referring - impressively against Aberdeen, predictably against Alloa in the CIS Cup, and nervously against Motherwell three days after the first leg against Sparta.

The rumour before that match at Fir Park was that failure to win would see Ivanauskas axed by Vladimir Romanov, joining John Robertson, George Burley and Graham Rix as victims of the club owner's impatience for success. For Romanov, though, that was never on the cards. He has let it be known since late last season that he believes Ivanauskas can become a very useful coach, and he obviously feels an affection for the former Hamburg striker which is wholly at odds with his underlying suspicion of his previous employees as manager or head coach.

So regardless of what happens tomorrow night and in the weeks ahead - and barring, of course, an unforeseen collapse by the Hearts team - there will be no change in manager. Yet, while the pressure is off Ivanauskas in that sense, he still has his own keen desire to win, and to prove to those who believe him incapable of independent thought that he is far from being a puppet.

Tonight he should start with a similar line-up to the one he fielded against Aberdeen four days ago, although he must choose replacements for the suspended Neil McCann and the cup-tied Marius Zaliukas. The absence of the former should see both the Lithuanian wingers, Deividas Cesnauskis and Saulius Mikoliunas, begin the game, while Julien Brellier should take over the holding midfield role from Zaliukas, with Paul Hartley the crucial playmaker ahead of him.

Edgaras Jankauskas, Christos Karipidis and Takis Fyssas have all been left at home because of injuries, while Michal Pospisil has travelled but is not yet fit enough following a hip injury to be considered for the squad, according to the coach.

Lee Wallace, one of Hearts' most impressive players at Pittodrie, will continue at left-back in place of Fyssas, while Ibrahim Tall probably did well enough in that 3-1 win to get the nod over Robbie Neilson.

Up front, the developing understanding shown on Sunday by Mauricio Pinilla and Roman Bednar will ensure they start together, with Juho Makela and Jamie Mole both being primed to come off the bench if there is a need late on to throw more men forward.

Mirsad Beslija will be another forward-going option among the substitutes, with Bruno Aguiar available to come on and bolster the midfield.

Hearts will certainly show far more fight tonight than they did at Murrayfield. We know this, because the club's owner, Vladimir Romanov, told us so in a statement released yesterday. "We've been through defeat against Sparta Prague," Romanov said through a spokesperson. "Now we we're going to the Czech Republic, and our task is to win. We're going to give everything, and we hope we can bring the result our great fans want to see."

Certainly the Czech team's coach, Michal Bilek, is expecting a better showing from Hearts than they gave at Murrayfield.

"We plan to play aggressively enough to be proactive," said Bilek. "We have the psychological advantage from the first leg, and this leg is certainly not going to be just about defence for us.

"I'm pretty positive we'll play a completely different Hearts team. We played perfectly two weeks ago, and they may have underestimated us slightly.

"But nothing has been decided yet. I'm sure Hearts will play pretty aggressively. They'll certainly want to score a goal pretty quickly."

Taken from the Scotsman