HEARTS star Neil MacFarlane today vowed to fight off the competition for a place in George Burley's new-look side as the former Ipswich Town boss prepares to bring in up to six new faces.

MacFarlane is entering his fourth year with the Jambos having been signed from Airdrie United by former manager Craig Levein.

Initially brought in as a squad player MacFarlane has come on leaps and bounds during his time at Tynecastle and has featured regularly over the past couple of seasons, particularly in midfield.

However, with Burley working to bring in more quality before the SPL kick-off away to Kilmarnock in less than two weeks, MacFarlane is determined to stay in the reckoning. Burley has already started wheeling and dealing and has a number of midfield options open to him.

Although Marius Kizys was released over the weekend, Czech internationalist midfielder Rudolf Skacel is expected to sign a one-year loan deal from Marseille today, subject to passing a medical and Frenchman Julien Brellier is also on trial. He featured in each of their last three pre-season games and a decision on his future will be made this week.

With Paul Hartley one of the first names on the Jambos team-list MacFarlane knows he faces a fight to stay in Burley's plans but it is one he is relishing.

"I definitely want to play," he said. "Every player always has room for improvement and of course I fall into that category and sometimes a bit of extra competition is what you need to spur you on and help you improve.

"The squad is thin and we know we need a few new faces but that doesn't mean the guys that are already here will just be happy to step aside."

Last term MacFarlane's style of play, sitting back and protecting the defence, complemented Hartley well as he likes to get into the box as often as possible.

The 28-year-old is no stranger to holding off competition with many observers expecting Michael Stewart to walk into the Hearts side upon his arrival from Manchester United on loan last term. But the Scotland internationalist was unable to displace MacFarlane.

"Everyone is trying to impress the new manager," he said. "Pre-season is usually just about building up fitness but this year there is that wee added incentive there."

Despite remaining unbeaten in their four pre-season matches so far the Jambos' performances have probably not been what they would have hoped for.

Against Stirling Albion on Saturday the Capital club named as strong a pool available with Andy Webster, Robbie Neilson and Paul Hartley all ruled out with minor knocks. They struggled for long spells, despite triumphing 3-1 but MacFarlane insisted that too much shouldn't be read into that. "Lower league teams, even in friendlies, always see playing a higher league side as an opportunity to impress," he said.

The Jambos' first home friendly tomorrow against Middlesbrough will be an entirely different affair, however, with a capacity crowd expected inside Tynecastle for the visit of the Premiership stars.

The Riverside outfit also have a friendly with Hartlepool taking place at the same time with Steve McLaren expected to split his squad down the middle. One player who Hearts fans definitely won't get to see in action is striker Jimmy-Floyd Hasselbaink who is nursing an ankle injury.

Taken from the Scotsman