PRESSLEY READY TO ROCK AND ROLL

Captain Steven Pressley believes it is time Hearts gave their supporters something to shout about.

The Tynecastle side enjoyed a flying start to the Bank of Scotland Premier League season with a resounding 4-2 victory at Kilmarnock.

It was also an excellent beginning for manager George Burley as a lengthy period of uncertainty at the Edinburgh club appears to be at an end.

New major shareholder Vladimir Romanov has already promised a genuine threat to the Old Firm this season.

And Burley returned to his native Ayrshire with the combination of a continuing influx of new players creating a real sense of optimism among the fans.

Indeed, two of those new players - Rudi Skacel and Roman Bednar - scored their first goals for Hearts, while Burley indicated afterwards that three further fresh faces are poised to sign this week.

Saulius Mikoliunas and Paul Hartley netted the other goals at Rugby Park as Killie were swept aside in front of the ecstatic travelling Hearts fans.

But, after years of trouble off the field including the aborted bid to sell Tynecastle to service debts by ex-chief executive Chris Robinson, Pressley is delighted that playing issues are now taking centre-stage for the fans.

He said: "The fans have stuck by us through thick and thin and we owe them a good season.

"They've had a lot of issues to contend with - mostly off the field - in recent times and it's not been easy.

"But we saw at Kilmarnock what a big club this is. They filled that end and were obviously very noisy and it was a tremendous lift for the team.

"They turned out in great numbers against Hull and Middlesbrough in the pre-season games and it shows the new players what size of club they've joined.

"I think more than 9,000 season tickets have been sold too.

"There was a lot of talk about what the new owner would bring but, as far as I'm concerned, he's done everything he said he would.

"He's been true to his word and there are some quality players coming in here."

Next weekend's Edinburgh derby is now the most eagerly anticipated for years, with Hearts lifted by their new players - with Skacel and Bednar impressing immediately and Edgaras Jankauskas yet to find his fitness - and Hibernian desperate to hold onto their status as the capital's top team.

Pressley added: "The important thing is we will go into the game on the back of a good win.

"Obviously Hibs, finished above us next season and we'll be trying to rectify that this season.

"We look like we'll have goals in us this season, with a good pitch, great support and a manager with attacking ideas and so the defenders need to tighten up and, if we do that, we'll do well."

Meanwhile, Killie centre-half Simon Ford believes the Ayrshire club's defenders learned a valuable lesson on the opening day of the season.

Several defensive lapses cost Jim Jefferies' team badly against Hearts and Ford knows they must rectify that situation if they are to prosper this term.

The Lincoln-born player said: "We know we've made mistakes and we know we can't keep making them.

"We defended pretty well for the majority of the game but a few times we lost our concentration and they capitalised on that.

"I made an error myself for the fourth goal when I should have just kicked it out of play or back to the keeper, but I tried to turn away from the striker and get the ball back into play because we needed to get another goal for a point.

"We finished seventh last year and, if we are to get into the top six, we will need to tighten up at the back and that's what we'll be working on for the next game."

Taken from sportinglife.com