LEVEIN PROUD OF PLAYERS AFTER WIN

Hearts head coach Craig Levein believes his players deserve extra credit for giving themselves a great chance of booking their place in the group stages of the UEFA Cup despite off-field problems.

Supporters are furious that chief executive Chris Robinson is pushing ahead with plans to sell their Tynecastle stadium - a motion which was passed by shareholders at a stormy EGM earlier this week.

To make the first-leg tie against Braga even more difficult for Hearts, they were forced to play the match at Scottish Rugby's Murrayfield stadium because their own ground does not meet UEFA requirements.

Fans had planned to boycott the European clash in protest at Robinson's plans but more than 18,000 watched the Jambos romp to a 3-1 win which sets them up nicely for the return leg in Portugal at the end of the month.

Levein insists the result was all the more special because of the distractions off the field.

He said: "There were a lot of things against us going into this match but I'm not surprised at the way the players responded - I know they have resilience and character.

"It was a difficult occasion and European games are difficult enough without any added pressures but I thought they handled it well.

"The important thing was that they gave the supporters something to cheer about and they in turn were able to feed off the reaction of the supporters.

"I don't want the night just to be about the atmosphere at Murrayfield - it was a good night and we played well but if we hadn't played well it would still have been the same Murrayfield.

"There was plenty of noise tonight and it was a good experience for us."

Braga had warned ahead of the game they were more than willing to use underhand tactics if it meant winning the tie and Levein singled out referee Anton Genov for praise for failing to be fooled by the Portuguese side.

He added: "The referee had a particularly good match and didn't allow the antics of players to disrupt the flow of the game.

"He told players to get back to their feet and it was proved that there was nothing wrong with each of those players - especially the goalkeeper."

Despite putting themselves in pole position for a place in the money-spinning group stages of the UEFA Cup - thanks to goals from Andy Webster, Paul Hartley and Patrick Kisnorbo - Levein insists the champagne remains on ice for the time being.

The Hearts boss insists he and his players have learned their lesson from last season's venture in the competition when they celebrated an away win over Bordeaux - only to be dumped out of the cup by the French side at Tynecastle.

Levein said: "That third goal might prove to be vital for us now and we have given ourselves a chance.

"We celebrated after we got the result against Bordeaux last year only to end up with egg on our face so we will wait until after the next game for celebrations."

Taken from sportinglife.com