Tragedy pulled me through my darkest days

HEARTS star Mark de Vries today revealed how personal tragedy helped him through his injury nightmare.

The Dutchman is set lead the Jambos’ charge for Euro glory against Braga at Murrayfield tonight having made a successful comeback against Rangers on Sunday.

He lasted just over an hour of the Tynecastle clash after being forced to miss the first four games of the new league season after tearing his hamstring in the friendly against Fulham in July.

It was a devastating blow for the injury-prone target man, who has been plagued by problems with his hamstrings since his arrival from Dordrecht two years ago.

Having thought such injury worries were behind him, the 29-year-old found it difficult to accept that he was facing yet another period on the sidelines as his team-mates launched their latest league challenge.

However, what he freely admits was one of the most frustrating periods of his career was put sharply into perspective with the news of the sudden death of former Dordrecht team-mate Arno Schaap.

They became close during the nine months they spent together at the Dutch club, the pair sharing a car to training on most days.

However, De Vries was left stunned by an early morning phone call informing him that the former Ajax and Feyenoord youngster had dropped dead while playing for Dutch amateur side Hilversum.

The tragic news came just days after the Tynecastle star was forced to limp out of the Fulham clash and left him numb with shock.

Now, as he prepares to carry Hearts’ main hope of goals into tonight’s first round, first leg showdown with the Portuguese, De Vries has revealed how the death of his pal has helped him appreciate his life.

"We spent something like nine months driving to training every day with Dordrecht and we obviously got to know each other well," he said.

"We often spoke about moving to other countries and bigger clubs and I was lucky enough to achieve that goal.

"I still find it hard to accept that he was taken away just like that. He is the same age as me and had his whole life in front of him.

"I was having my injury problems at the time and it was one of the worst times for me as I had never missed the start of a season before but that just put everything in perspective for me.

"When something like that happens, everything else pales into insignificance."

He added: "It just shows that you never know when life can be taken away and it certainly made me appreciate what I have."

As he prepared to head back to his homeland to pay his respects to Schaap, De Vries felt another shudder down his spine when he heard Rangers’ Chris Burke had collapsed during the Light Blues’ opening game of the season against Aberdeen at Pittodrie.

"I couldn’t believe it," said the striker, who may be asked to play the 90 minutes tonight for the first time this season with regular partners Ramon Pereira and Graham Weir ruled out.

"That was quite scary for me at the time as I was going back to Holland for the funeral of my friend," he said. "Thankfully it proved nothing serious and he was okay."

De Vries marked his return to action this season with a goal against Hibs in the Bank of Scotland Festival Cup win with his first touch of the ball and he continued his rehabilitation with 62 minutes against Rangers, during which time he proved a real handful for the Ibrox outfit’s defence.

Highlighted by Braga as the Jambos’ main danger man at Murrayfield, De Vries is just looking forward to being involved in what promises to be a crucial couple of weeks for Hearts.

"I was actually thinking of Arno when I ran onto the park after coming off the bench against Hibs and within ten seconds I had scored!" he said.

"That was pleasing and it was good to play against Rangers at the weekend and get two games in a row under my belt and now Braga is a big match for us."

De Vries’ broad shoulders will have to carry the responsibility of the hosts’ attack tonight - and his manager insists he is well up for the task after emerging unscathed from his sterling endeavours against Rangers.

"We all know Mark is a vital player for us but I have told everybody that I will need them all over the next five or six games.

"You could see the difference he made to us on Sunday, especially in the first half.

"We need him tonight, although the problem with Graham Weir does cause me a few problems.

"Braga will have watched Mark but he’s just coming back from injury and there is much more to his game than what they will have seen.

"I am hoping the importance of the match will help him forget his physical frailties at the moment and if we can get decent service to him, I don’t care how good their defenders are, he’ll cause them problems."

Levein added: "The second half of the match is still to come in Portugal so things might be a bit cagey.

"But we have identified the way we want to play against Braga and that involves finding out if their defence will leak. That will mean getting the ball up into the final third of the park. We will play our traditional way, get the ball forward and try to test the goalkeeper and defender.

"They are not a weak side in any way and looking through their team they are more experienced than us.

"But we have our own strengths and are difficult to beat. We have good finishers if we can get balls into the area to allow them to do that. The plan was to play Mark for an hour and then bring Dennis Wyness but the temptation is to now try to get him through the 90 minutes."

And Levein is hoping last year’s Euro contest against Bordeaux will help the Jambos cope with this evening’s examination.

"I think we understand better what it takes to get through a tie, not just to win a game as we did in France but didn’t go through," he said.

"A lot of the players who played then will be involved tonight and there is a great determination to get through to the group stages of the competition.

"That would be seen as progress. We are trying to improve in the SPL by closing the gap on the Old Firm and it would be great of we could get past Braga and into the next stage."

Taken from the Scotsman