McKenna puts heart back into defence

KEVIN McKenna will return to the Hearts line-up this afternoon to find it a slightly jaded version of the one he left behind. McKenna jetted off to play for Canada on the back of six straight wins, but Craig Levein’s men have won none of the games contested in his absence, which included the Scottish Cup humiliation against Inverness Caley Thistle.

McKenna has spent the past three weeks or so in the US, representing his country in the Gold Cup. His travels have been far more profitable than those of his Hearts team-mates, who have gone to Livingston, Celtic and Dunfermline and returned only with a single point - though he insisted yesterday that only the loss to Inverness should be considered a truly unsatisfactory result.

McKenna, after heightening his reputation as a striker with Canada (three goals led to him being named in the Gold Cup’s "team of the tournament"), will today be thrust back into his customary central defensive position. Although his difficulties in overcoming jet-lag have made for sleepless nights this week, the 21-year-old is raring to renew his acquaintance with Rangers, the club he has twice scored against this season. But this confidence does not come without a little forewarning.

"I think we will have to stop them using Peter Lovenkrands too much out on the wing, and stop Barry Ferguson and Lorenzo Amoruso from getting the ball," said McKenna yesterday.

"When they have the ball in the middle of the park, they can really hurt you and Rangers are certainly playing a lot better than they did at the start of the season."

Levein, whose side held Rangers to a 2-2 draw on their last visit to Tynecastle in September, is clearly relieved to welcome back his £300,000 signing from Energie Cottbus, and does not refrain from citing the Canadian’s absence as a factor behind the recent down-turn in results.

"We had the same team week-in, week-out before Kevin left. I think he is our second-top goalscorer and he is also our main player when it comes to defending in the air. So it hasn’t helped," reflected the manager.

Asked for an early prognosis of Alex McLeish’s success as Rangers manager, Levein suggested that a transition in seniority - rather than any ingenious tinkering with personnel - has resulted in the Ibrox side’s improved consistency.

"Alex is an extremely good manager, he proved that last season with Hibs, but I think just a change of face and a different voice in the dressing-room can make a hell of a difference," he said.

In timely anticipation of the live television fixture, Hearts have completed the re-laying of the pitch for the visit of Rangers. But the club have also been forced into a more regrettable measure ahead of the 5.35pm kick-off, threatening to bar any supporter who turns up at Tynecastle drunk.

Taken from the Scotsman