Seve's goal is to help Jambos bounce back

PAUL KIDDIE

MIDFIELDER Scott Severin opened his season’s scoring account for Hearts against Dundee United at the weekend - and admitted he should be doing more in front of goal for the Jambos.

The Tynecastle star broke his duck for the campaign when he rifled home early in the second half of the Tannadice clash, his effort hauling his side back into the game after the hosts had opened up a somewhat fortuitous 2-0 half-time lead.

However, Hearts failed to make the most of Severin’s strike as United managed to hold on to their slender advantage to send Craig Levein’s outfit spinning to its second defeat in succession following the UEFA Cup exit to Bordeaux days earlier.

The midfielder would no doubt have swapped his goal for three points on Sunday with the third-placed Jambos having missed an excellent opportunity to carve open a nine-point lead over the rest of the SPL.

"Although we didn’t play to our capabilities we still created enough chances to win the game comfortably at Tannadice," he said.

"We had three or four great opportunities and I still don’t know how none of them went in.

"We got one back in the second half and then hit the post but it wasn’t to be.

"The United manager had been talking about not having much luck in games recently. I think he got it all in the one game on Sunday!

"The ball sat up nicely for my goal and it was nice to get my first one of the season. Unfortunately it didn’t count for anything at the end as we still lost the match.

"Hopefully there are a few more in the bag as I would like to contribute more in that department.

"This has been my poorest season to date for goal-scoring and if I can manage to grab a few each year, it will help ease the pressure on the guys up front."

Severin, named in Berti Vogts’ latest Scotland Future Squad along with team-mates Craig Gordon and Andy Webster for the meeting with Turkey at Tannadice later this month, returned to the starting line-up at Tannadice after injury.

And he looks set to keep his place tonight when the Jambos head back to Tayside, this time to take on crisis club Dundee with a place in the semi-final of the CIS Cup up for grabs.

Levein had gone into the United game looking for his team to bounce back from the disappointment of their European exit and while he was left to rue slack defending at both goals Hearts conceded, he refused to be over-critical of his players after watching home keeper Paul Gallagher produce an inspired display between the posts as Lady Luck well and truly deserted the men from Tynecastle.

Having gone into the Bordeaux showdown in the Capital on the back of an impressive run of six successive victories, the Jambos will tonight try to avoid an unwanted hat-trick of defeats.

And Severin maintains it is well within the team’s capabilities to book their ticket to the semi-final at the Dark Blues’ expense.

"We may not have won on Sunday but at least we created a lot of chances," he said. "Therefore we will go to Dens Park confident of getting the right result tonight.

"There is a semi-final spot on the line and these are the game we all want to experience.

"I think we can play a lot better than we did against United and it turned out to be just one of those days for us.

"But if we can create as many opportunities as that this evening then hopefully we will be able to put one or two of them away.

"We have had two defeats in a row now after our good run and it’s not been a nice experience.

"We don’t want a third one and we’ll be doing our damndest to get through."

Team-mate Kevin McKenna, meanwhile, insists the Jambos must ignore all the off-the-field problems engulfing the Dark Blues and concentrate on booking their place in the last four of the cup.

The Canadian came within inches of snatching a late equaliser at Tannadice, his volley coming crashing back off a post as Hearts desperately tried to get some reward for all their efforts on Sunday.

And the 23-year-old is confident that the carrot of a semi-final berth early next year will spur the Gorgie outfit on to better luck this time round on Tayside.

"We just have to try to ignore everything that has been going on at Dens and do a professional job tonight," he said.

"They’ll be doing their best not to let it all affect them and despite all the players who have left the club recently, they still have a good team there with dangerous players.

"There is a place in a semi-final on offer to the winners and that should be incentive enough for us all at Dens Park."

Taken from the Scotsman