Hearts won't be broken by Euro misery

PAUL KIDDIE

HEARTS may still be trying to shrug off the disappointment of their UEFA Cup exit at the hands of Bordeaux at Tynecastle on Thursday - but Robbie Neilson insists the Jambos can’t afford to feel sorry for themselves for too long.

The Gorgie outfit don’t have long to dwell on the 2-1 aggregate loss which saw their Euro run come shuddering to a halt in the Capital, tomorrow’s visit to Tannadice for the league clash with Dundee United ensuring the players’ focus switches back to the domestic scene almost immediately.

The trip to the City of Discovery marks the first half of a Tayside double-header for Hearts with a CIS Cup clash against crisis club Dundee looming on Wednesday.

And Neilson is confident the team can bounce back from their Euro agony to continue their impressive form in the SPL.

"We are in the middle of a busy schedule but I suppose that all comes with the team doing well," he said.

"We don’t have long to think about the Bordeaux match with a league game coming up tomorrow. That is probably a good thing as the guys will want to get that result out of our system as quickly as possible.

"At least we don’t have a week to think about everything and I am sure we will be ready to take on United. We are also in Dundee next week when we play them in the CIS Cup so it would be great if we could go into that cup tie with a good result under our belts from Tannadice.

"There’s not a lot of rest between games at the moment but it is important we give it our best shot at Tannadice. We are sitting in third spot and want to consolidate that position.

"We managed to get in to Europe through our league position last season so it’s important that we pick up as many points as we can. United will be tough opponents on their own ground and we will have to totally focused to bring back the three points."

Neilson was farmed out on loan to Queen of the South last season, a move which has paid off for boss Craig Levein, with the young full-back having regained his confidence and now looking like a player transformed from the one who has been so often the target of the fans’ criticism.

And the defender, one of his side’s top performers against Bordeaux, is the first to admit that had it not been for his spell in Dumfries, there is every chance he would not be at Tynecastle at the moment.

"I am really enjoying my football at the moment and it’s great being back in the first team picture," he said.

"Playing in the UEFA Cup is a big, big step from appearing for Queen of the South but that loan move was great for me.

"It gave me my confidence back which was important and I am now enjoying taking players on, rather than coming back and trying to find someone.

"If I hadn’t been at Queen of the South I think it is fair to say that I would probably be playing my football somewhere else just now."

Neilson is one of a host of stars out of contract in the summer but he is not even thinking about that at the moment, the defender knowing it is vital to continue impressing in the top team to help boost his chances of extending his stay in Gorgie.

"My deal is up at the end of the season but nothing has been said about that yet," he added.

"I am just happy to be playing and I know I will have to play a clutch of first team games for the gaffer to consider anything for me.

"It was a young team out on the park against Bordeaux and we can only grow from that experience.

"I am sure that has given everyone a taste of the European experience and they will now want more and the league offers us the chance to do that."

Looking back on the UEFA Cup exit, Neilson admitted the outcome may have been different had referee Grzegorz Gilewski awarded Hearts what looked like a penalty after he was sent tumbling in the box under a challenge from Eduardo Costa on the stroke of half-time.

"We never really recovered from losing that early goal but things might have been different had we got back on level terms," he said.

"At the penalty incident the guy cut across me and I went down but the ref didn’t give it. Some may have given it, others not, and the guy on Thursday night didn’t give us much at all throughout the match.

"We changed things a bit at the interval and that helped with us pressing a bit more up the park.

"But they scored on the counter-attack which is something they are very good at.

"The win in France actually made it a difficult game for us and maybe had we lost over there then would have had to come out and attack them at Tynecastle."



Taken from the Scotsman