Levein hails work rate

STUART BATHGATE

IT WAS a delighted Craig Levein who emerged from the dressing-rooms of Sarajevo’s Olympic Stadium to hail Hearts' success in reaching the second round of the UEFA Cup. Purists may not have been in raptures over what they had just seen, but the Hearts coach was nonetheless delighted by his team’s work rate and by their ability to learn quickly after a shaky opening spell.

"Other than the first 20 minutes, when we showed an eagerness to get forward, we defended very well and played in more of a European style than we normally do," Levein said. "We tried at half time to tell them that we didn’t need to run forward so quickly. I think it was just enthusiasm - the lads were eager to kill the match off."

A goal would have done exactly that, yet even though it did not come, Levein praised Mark de Vries and Graham Weir for the amount of effort they had put in. More generally, he was rightly satisfied that his side, with minimal experience at this level, had nullified a technically-accomplished Zeljeznicar side.

"They were a decent team who passed the ball well, and we had to be at our very best to go through. We’ve got a young team, and even some of our more experienced guys haven’t been in Europe before."

One of those more experienced players, Jean-Louis Valois, had spent some dozen hours travelling over the past two days, as he went to the funeral of his grandfather, Charles Valois, before heading for Bosnia.

"It has been difficult for me, but life is like that," the Frenchman said. "It was very important for me to be present yesterday [at the funeral] and to be present today. Now I think I will be ready to play Celtic on Saturday. We can rest after that game."

Before that, of course, comes the second-round draw in Nyon, and the discovery of the next team against which Levein must pit his eversharpening tactical wits.

Taken from the Scotsman