ROMAN'S CRUNCH

HEARTS goal hero Roman Bednar last night relived the horror moment that could leave him sidelined for months - and possibly derail the Tynecastle title charge.

The Czech striker revealed he knew instantly that a tackle by Rangers defender Marvin Andrews on Saturday had caused knee-ligament damage. Now he will learn the full extent of the damage this morning - and he's praying a scan shows the injury is as not as serious as he fears.

Bednar was injured shortly after notching his third goal of the season to extend Hearts 100 per cent record to eight games making this their best start to a campaign in 90 years.

But his joy soon turned to despair and he said: "As soon as the Rangers player hit me I knew it was bad. I heard a crunch in my knee.

"I tried to go back on the pitch but I was not able to run. I go to the doctor on Monday because they said they couldn't recognise anything about the injury so soon after the match.

"My father and girlfriend came over for the game but I couldn't even walk with them in the city afterwards.

"It is very frustrating because I've had a lot of medical problems since I came here and I was delighted because I had just scored my most important goal since I arrived.

"But I think we have now shown we will be serious rivals to the Glasgow teams this season."

Bednar stole the limelight from countryman Rudi Skacel, who failed to find the net for the first time in the SPL this season.However,Skacel will settle for not scoring again this season as long as the Jambos keep up their phenomenal winning streak.

He said: "It is better to win like this than for me to score and Hearts to lose the game"I'd be lying if I said I did not want to score in 10 league games in a row like Mark Viduka did for Celtic. However, the team winning 10 matches in a row is much more important than me scoring."

Hearts are five points clear at the top of the league and Skacel believes their first win over Rangers at Tynecastle in seven years has laid down a marker for their title ambitions. He said: "It was a fight against Rangers but we've shown to other teams, and especially to Celtic, we are great fighters.

"We know we are not going to win forever but there is great euphoria here in Edinburgh at the moment.

"However, Saturday's win was not the most difficult of the season.Itwas much more important to win the first two games in the league when we did not know each other a lot."

Hearts boss George Burley is praying his influential striker is not as badly hurt as he fears. He said: "We'll know better when Roman has had a scan but it could be a bad injury."

Hearts also have an injury worry over Greek left-back Takis Fyssas, who limped off on Saturday with a knee problem.

Burley has insisted his squad is not strong enough and he will be looking to bring in new faces in the January transfer window.

He said: "I've always felt we could be stretched if we had three or four players out. Hopefully, Fyssas will be okay but up front we are short if Roman is out. Michal Pospisil will be back training in a week, which will help

Taken from the Daily Record