Bednar facing race against time to be fit for Steelmen

BARRY ANDERSON

HEARTS manager George Burley was today sweating over the fitness of his Czech Republic striker Roman Bednar for tomorrow's match with Motherwell.

With Michal Pospisil definitely ruled out of the Tynecastle meeting due to hamstring trouble, Burley is looking to Bednar to continue his productive partnership in attack with Edgar Jankauskas.

However the 22-year-old has also been feeling his hamstring tight and did not train with the squad on Wednesday or Thursday.

Burley was intending to assess Bednar's fitness throughout today's session at the club's Riccarton training complex before reaching a decision on whether the player is fit to start against Motherwell.

"Bednar will join in with the rest of the boys at training but Michal is definitely out," said Burley. "We are hoping to keep our good run going so some of our more experienced players will come back in after Tuesday night.

"We will just have to see how Roman reacts before we name the team for tomorrow."

Should Bednar's fitness be deemed unsuitable, teenage striker Calum Elliot will be expected to make only his second start for the club at the age of 18. Burley also admitted that his efforts to recruit more new players for Hearts are looking increasingly forlorn, with no deals or even trials imminent at the moment after his offer for a mystery player earlier this week went dead.

He added: "It's all quiet, I'm afraid. It looks like any deal is now dead. We are looking to strengthen the squad but we haven't done it yet." The visit of Motherwell is considered a potentially hazardous one for Burley, who is acutely conscious of the Lanarkshire side's four wins from five record against Hearts last season.

The manager is also looking forward with great anticipation to confronting his close friend and former Ipswich team-mate Terry Butcher for the first time as a manager. Burley, who was Motherwell's right-back in the late 1980s, said: "Motherwell was a great club for me and I have good memories of my time there. I was there for a few years and really enjoyed it.

"They are a good little side. I think they beat Hearts four times last year so it's going to be tough and, of course, they have Terry as manager and he is doing a great job by all accounts. Terry is still a good friend of mine. He was my team-mate at Ipswich. I know him well so tomorrow's match will be interesting."

Hearts' major shareholder Vladimir Romanov will attend the match before entering into top-secret discussions with Burley on who the manager's signing targets prior to the close of the transfer window next Wednesday. The match is also a sell-out with all tickets for home supporters having been quickly snapped up.

Taken from the Scotsman