De Vries will have final say

PAUL KIDDIE

HEARTS striker Mark de Vries will decide himself whether he plays against Hibs in tomorrow’s Bank of Scotland Festival Cup clash at Tynecastle.

The Dutchman returned to training yesterday having missed the start of the SPL season with a hamstring injury, and while boss Craig Levein is desperate to see him back in the first-team frame as quickly as possible, he will not press the target man into action unnecessarily.

Levein could leave it until the last minute before deciding on De Vries, and revealed today that the player himself will have the final say.

"Mark trained yesterday and felt okay afterwards. We’ll see how he is today with a view to tomorrow’s match. He will have to be right mentally for the match and the final decision will be his."

The home side will be minus a string of top-team stars - Steven Pressley, Andy Webster, Craig Gordon and Alan Maybury are all on international duty, Kevin McKenna and Stephen Simmons are injured while Ramon Pereira has returned home to Spain to spend some time with his family.

It all means that Levein will use tomorrow’s encounter to field a number of his fringe players who are in need of games.

"The match is on the fixture list so we have to play it," he said. "We have a number of players away but from the point of view getting a game for some of the others it will be all right. And I am sure Tony Mowbray will be feeling the same.

"We will use it as a fitness exercise but it’s a game against Hibs and we desperately want to win it. However, I don’t think the outcome will have any real bearing on the on the games ahead when we will have full-strength sides.

"I am not sure how many fans will turn up but hopefully with the pressure off it will be an exciting game for the punters."

Taken from the Scotsman