De Vries set on making Mark against Schalke

PAUL KIDDIE

FIT-AGAIN Jambo Mark de Vries is gunning for Schalke in tomorrow’s UEFA Cup clash at Murrayfield - to make up for the heartbreak of missing out against Feyenoord.

The 29-year-old suffered the lowest point of his career after he was ruled out of an emotional return to his homeland when the Gorgie outfit locked horns with Ruud Gullit’s side in the De Kuip Stadium last month.

Instead of leading the Hearts attack against the Dutch giants in front of friends and family in the Rotterdam showdown, the Gorgie star was forced to watch the action unfold from a hospital bed in Glasgow as doctors administered further intravenous medication.

De Vries had travelled with the squad in the vain hope of recovering sufficiently from a poisoned toe to make the Group A opener but was flown back to Scotland for further medical treatment less than 24 hours after arriving in Holland.

It was a crushing blow for the striker, who had been dreaming of a glorious return to the Netherlands ever since the draw had paired the Jambos with Gullit’s superstars.

The front man has not played since his magnificent double against Braga in Portugal secured Hearts’ passage into the lucrative group stages.

But he is well on the road to making a timely return to action in tomorrow’s must-win encounter against a side riding high in second place in the Bundesliga.

"Missing the Feyenoord game was heartbreaking as I had been so looking forward to going back to play in Holland," he said. "Everyone had been talking about it and all my family and friends had bought tickets for the match. It was just my luck that I couldn’t make it because of injury and I felt terrible about the whole situation.

"It was a huge disappointment and a real shame as I may not get another chance to play against such a top Dutch side. I actually watched the game on television in hospital and my blood pressure rose on a couple of occasions with the decisions by the officials to allow Feyenoord’s first goal even though it was offside and then to rule out Kevin McKenna’s perfectly good goal in the first half.

"I could have stayed down in the dumps about it all but I took it on the chin and tried not to dwell on it. It’s all over now and there are another three big European games to look forward to."

To rub salt in the already painful wounds of his poisoned toe, De Vries was also forced to miss the first derby of the season as Hearts defeated Hibs 2-1 at Tynecastle. The Dutchman, though, is now hoping his nightmare period of injuries is over - it all started with a hamstring problem suffered against Kilmarnock in the CIS Cup victory over the Ayrshire side in the Capital in September.

With the target man set to lead the line tomorrow as Hearts bid to kick-start their bid to make the latter stages of the UEFA Cup via one of the three qualification places up for grabs from Group A, De Vries’ availability could not come at a better time, particularly with a trip to third-placed Aberdeen on Sunday followed by a CIS Cup quarter-final away to Dunfermline next week.

"I will be trying even harder against Schalke," he said. "I have already missed one important European tie and want to make the most of these opportunities. I don’t know much about the Germans but they are obviously in decent form at the moment and will come to Edinburgh full of confidence. But we showed great spirit in the game against Feyenoord and with a good crowd behind us at Murrayfield, hopefully we can repeat the kind of performance we produced when we defeated Braga there.

"The same scoreline (3-1) would certainly suit us perfectly to get us back into the group."

With former boss Craig Levein hoping to be in attendance at the home of Scottish rugby tomorrow night, De Vries and the rest of his team-mates have extra reason to dump the Germans.

"It would have been nice to have got through this stage with all of us together but it wasn’t to be," he said.

"These things happen in football and there is always the chance a manager will move on.

"Knowing the gaffer, he will do all he can to be at the game tomorrow and it would be great to get a result for him."

Taken from the Scotsman