Hearts fans' chief pleads for calm after Cup defeat

HEARTS supporters' chief Martin Laidlaw today called for a period of calm at Tynecastle following last night's CIS Cup defeat by Hibs, which extended the club's winless streak to five games.

The support have had to digest the news of head coach Valdas Ivanauskas' departure with no time-scale given for his return following yesterday's medical results from Lithuania and, in the meantime, acting head coach Eduard Malofeev has presided over two defeats and a draw in three games.

However Laidlaw, chairman of the Hearts Supporters' Trust, believes there is presently too much attention being focused on Hearts' every move and is urging everyone connected with the club to step back and assess the situation objectively.

He said: "Results aren't going well, the team isn't playing well, but perhaps there wouldn't be as much of a frenzy surrounding the club if we were winning the games. A period of calm is required rather than this day-to-day frenzy.

"We have to take it as it comes. We met Vladimir Romanov and had a full and frank discussion with him two weeks ago, and what we are looking for now is a period of stability. Something that everybody connected with Hearts must do right now is calm down.

"The team played well on Saturday but didn't play at all well last night. It was an absolutely abysmal performance from Hearts. It is a missed opportunity but opportunities will present themselves again. A season doesn't end after one game."

Laidlaw believes Hearts supporters should be content to allow Malofeev the time he requires to implement his own philosophy at the club. He added: "People require time and we need to give that to the people who are running Hearts to see where they take us. When we met Romanov he assured us he was not going to say anything publicly and he is entirely entitled to do that."

Ivanauskas contacted Hearts yesterday to admit that he was unable to pinpoint a date for his return following a medical examination in Kaunas on Tuesday.

He watched last night's 1-0 defeat at home in Lithuania, and saw a display that Portuguese defender Jose Goncalves termed "embarrassing".

He said: "We did not have many chances and we tried to speak about that at half-time.

"We spoke with the staff and the trainer to see what we could do to create more chances, but it was not so easy. I think the players were embarrassed.

"We don't have a problem, we just need to keep going and working hard.

"We are back to training on Friday and on Monday we have an important game against Falkirk. We need three points there.

"This is not the last game in Hearts' history.

"It was a bad game for us but we have the championship and the Scottish Cup so we must keep going."

Taken from the Scotsman