Burley anxious to fill striker's boots

THE pressing need for George Burley to recruit new strikers at the start of his Hearts reign has soared in importance following the Jambos' opening game of their pre-season tour to Ireland.

Graham Weir, one of only two recognised first-team front men at Burley's disposal, was stretchered off during the second half of the Gorgie outfit's 0-0 draw with St Patrick's Athletic in Dublin yesterday.

The diminutive forward was forced out of the action after 55 minutes at Richmond Park after injuring an ankle and is now doubtful for the start of the SPL season.

Weir, who recently signed a new one-year deal, was due to enter hospital today in the Irish capital for scans to determine the full extent of the problem - but his manager is already resigned to the fact that the 21-year-old will be sidelined for the majority of the pre-season preparations.

With Dennis Wyness now the only senior forward, Burley is aware he has to move quickly to ease the situation with the SPL curtain-raiser against Kilmarnock at Rugby Park looming large on the horizon.

"It is no secret that we have to strengthen the squad and up front is one of the areas we are looking at and treating as a priority," he said. "We are clearly short of strikers and it's important to assess the situation quickly and bring players in quickly.

"Graham twisted his ankle and we have to get it scanned and X-rayed before we know the exact nature of the damage. It is too early to say for sure but I think we're looking at a couple of weeks anyway."

Weir's misfortune apart, Burley declared himself satisfied with what he saw in yesterday's clash, the meeting offering him the first opportunity to run the rule over his new charges after his appointment to the Tynecastle hot seat 11 days ago.

"Apart from the injury to Graham, the boys got through the game okay," he said.

"It was a good work out. The temperature must have been touching 90 degrees so it was a good fitness exercise for them."

The visitors looked a bit ring rusty in their first match back after the close season - apart from Craig Gordon that is.

The Scotland keeper was in superb form and his display made a huge impression on his boss, who tipped him to go onto great things in the game. "I was very impressed by Craig Gordon," he said. "I hadn't seen much of him before yesterday's match but it is obvious that he is a talented young keeper.

"He showed his confidence against St Patrick's and he clearly has a lot of natural ability. He was away working last week with our goalkeeping coach Malcolm Webster and is someone who wants to learn.

"He will continue to improve under Malcolm's guidance and there is no doubt that he is going to be a top keeper."

Burley had no hesitation in pinning his faith in Gordon for next season, although conceded that a more experienced understudy would have to be found following the departure of Finnish keeper Tepi Moilanen - teenager Jamie McDonald was on the bench at Richmond Park. "Craig is definitely going to be my No.1, although we do need a more experienced back-up as cover and that is something we will be looking at in due course," he said.

Gordon was the star performer for the Jambos as they kicked off their pre-season tour to the Emerald Isle with a share of the spoils. A breathtaking double stop in the 16th minute was the highlight of the match. He produced a point-blank stop to deny David Bell and after the rebound fell to Gerard Rowe, the youngster threw himself high to his left to turn the shot behind for a corner.

Moments earlier he had been beaten but Marius Kizys popped up to head Barry Prenderville's header off the line after poor marking at a corner had given the full-back a glimpse of goal.

The closest the Gorgie outfit came to scoring in the opening period was when Lithuanian Saulius Mikoliunas was played through by captain-for-the-day Robbie Neilson as the interval approached, St Pat's keeper Barry Ryan racing off his line to smother the ball at the feet of the Lithuanian. Burley fielded Mikoliunas' fellow-countrymen Kizys and David Cesnauskis but the trio looked off the pace somewhat with too many misplaced passes.

The Jambos made a double substitution at half-time, Mikoliunas and Kizys being replaced by Joe Hamill and Dennis Wyness.

But no sooner had the second half got under way than Burley was forced into another change when Weir had to be carried off after a tackle from substitute Vinny Perth, the challenge seeing him entered into referee Paul McKeown's book.

Hjalmar Thorarinsson stepped off the bench but like his team-mate in the first 45 minutes, the Icelander struggled to make much impression on a well-drilled rearguard.

Rowe had an opportunity to break the deadlock in the 58th minute but hooked his shot wildly over the top and six minutes later Ryan kept the scores level with a superb save form Cesnauskis as the goal opened up for the Lithuanian internationalist.

Clear-cut chances were at a premium in the game, although as is always the case in pre-season friendlies the result comes secondary to the actual fitness exercise. While Burley had said beforehand that he would not be pressing his internationalists into action, mystery surrounded the non-appearance of centre-half Andy Webster yesterday.

The Hearts boss insisted he had been left behind for extra rest at his own request after an all-too brief summer lay-off, although it appears the 23-year-old snubbed the tour in protest at the club rejecting an initial approach from Rangers for his services.

In his absence, Craig Sives and Christophe Berra formed the central defensive pairing with skipper Steven Pressley remaining on the bench for the 90 minutes.

The young duo performed admirably against a strikeforce which is already half-way through the Irish league season and they contributed to a solid, if unspectacular display from the visitors, who rang the changes as the game went on.

"That was the first chance I'd had to see the lads in a game and it was a good work out," said the Hearts chief, who was true to his word in handing youngsters Gary Tierney, Lee Wallace and Calum Elliott a taste of the action after the break..

"We have two games here and as I have said before, it's important I see everyone. Paul Hartley was handed a run out for the last 20 minutes and the internationalists will gradually step up their involvement as the kick-off to the SPL campaign approaches. The guys' fitness is good. We didn't play Steven Pressley yesterday, for example, as he didn't really need it," the manager said.

"Paul wanted the last 20 minutes and it will be a case of breaking them in gently over the next couple of weeks."

St Patrick's Athletic: Ryan, Prenderville, Donnelly (Perth, 45), Fleming, Frost (Foley, 45), Caffrey (Quigley, 75), Maher (Flood, 75), Dunne (Doyle, 45), Hay (Moyaic, 67), Rowe, Bell (O'Keeffe, 75). Subs not used: Clarke.

Hearts: Gordon, Neilson, Sives (Tierney, 75), Berra, McAllister (Wallace, 72), MacFarlane (Elliott, 78), Kizys (Wyness, 45), Simmons (Hartley, 71), Mikoliunas (Hamill, 45), Cesnauskis, Weir (Thorarinsson, 57). Subs not used: McDonald, Pressley.

Attendance: 1500.

Taken from the Scotsman