Forward trouble hampers Hearts

RAY HEPBURN

7 Nov 1990

BOLOGNA, Tuesday.

DOUBTS over front players have hampered Hearts' ambitions of snatching an away goal in the Stadio Dall'Ara to ease their passage into the third round of the UEFA Cup against Bologna tomorrow.

John Robertson will almost certainly not feature in the starting line-up against the Italians because of the hamstring injury that ruled him out of the

3-1 first-leg win in Edinburgh.

Manager Joe Jordan's other strikers also had question marks against them following this afternoon's training in the stadium.

It is sunny but chilly here and that has left Wayne Foster, who deputised for Robertson and scored two goals in the first leg, with a cold.

He missed training and fellow strikers John Colquhoun and Iain Ferguson have also enountered problems.

Colquhoun has a muscle strain following the match with Dunfermline and Ferguson pulled out of training yesterday.

Nevertheless, it is Jordan's opinion that Hearts can snatch an away goal here and make life difficult for the Italians.

Provided Foster, Colquhoun, and Ferguson are fit, Jordan is unlikely to stray much from the team that drew with Dunfermline on Saturday, which means Davie Kirkwood will be preferred to Scottish under-21 cap Alan McLaren at right back.

Jordan warned yesterday that Bologna will get a lift from the return of Antonio Cabrini, the veteran international defender, and Lajos Detari, the Hungarian international.

"Detari is a class player," said Jordan, "He can both create chances and score goals and I think Bologna missed him in the first leg.

"Cabrini will also give us problems as he is a player who will not only lift his team-mates but the fans as well."

Jordan conceded that he would rather be in Hearts' position than Bologna's and he is hoping another fine European performance can give his players the belief to overcome their indifferent domestic form.

0 Hearts' officials were last night said to be upset over reports that today's match referee, Mr Van Swieten from Holland, was being entertained by Bologna officials in a hotel in the city.

Some Hearts fans witnessed Mr Van Swieten, who refereed Hearts' home leg against Austria Vienna in the same competition two years ago, being "wined and dined excessively" in the city's Grande Hotel.

Hearts have a policy of never coming into contact with visiting referees before the night of a European match at Tynecastle and strictly adhere to a policy of leaving any hospitality up to local referees.

This is not the first time Italian clubs have been seen actively courting visiting officials.

Taken from the Herald