THE LOVE HEARTS

HEARTS star Rudi Skacel is serving up aces for the SPL leaders - on and off the park.

Club captain Steven Pressley revealed that his team-mates have rallied team spirit at Tynecastle with a string of off-field events, including keenly contested tennis tournaments.

The Jambos are aiming to finish the first quarter of the campaign tomorrow undefeated when they take on Dunfermline in Edinburgh.

Czech star Skacel can do no wrong for his side with eight goals from10SPL games so far this season.

But Record Sport can reveal he has also proved as adept with a racket in his hand as boots on his feet by claiming victory with Paul Hartley in the tennis tournament recently organised by Gorgie boss George Burley.

Scotland defender Elvis said: "We've already had a couple of get-togethers this season to help team spirit, including a day at the races, and recentlywealsoorganised a couple of tennis tournaments"The gaffer is a good player himself and organised the event at the local David Lloyd centre and the Czech players have proved to be incredibly good, unlike us Scots.

"Jamie McAllister was my partner in the doubles and let's just say he let me down - who didn't we lose to in the competition?

"My confidence definitely took a battering but we have yet to unleash Neil MacFarlane on the event and he is definitely Hearts' equivalent of Andy Murray.

"In fact Neil comes from Dunoon and has been named their local tennis club champion 10 of the last 11 years and the only reason he didn't complete the clean sweep is because he had a year out as a result of a cruciate-ligament injury.

"The tournament was organised just for fun, there are no prizes involved, but it's always good for the banter and rivalry."

Hearts are currently three points ahead of second-placed Celtic and have enjoyed a start to the season few would have anticipatedwhen Burleytookovertheclub at the end of June Bookieshave slashed their oddsonwinning the title from as much as 400-1 down to 5-2 and even Pressley admits he has been overwhelmed by the start his team have made to the season.

He added: "It has been a fantastic achievement and beyond the wildest dreams of everyone at the club.

"I can see in the dressing room the type of characters we have in our team.

"I said last season we had the basis of a very good team and the foreign players have come in and given us what we lacked last time out.

"We relied a lot on Paul Hartley's goals last season but the onus on him having to score every week has been taken awayand the support we have been given homeand away has helped motivating the players even easier"Often it's difficult when you bring in new players, particularly foreigners, because the language barrier can be a problem but we've got a fantastic spirit among this group of players."

Pressley admits the strength of spirit in the squad will be vital if his club are to nurse championship ambitions in the months ahead and he believes it's imperative they win as many games as possible on their own patch.

He said: "The Old Firm have dropped very few points at home whenever they have won the league and if we can do the same it can help sustain a challenge.

"It will take more than winning games at home to lift the title but it certainly provides a good foundation. Our fans have endured a lot in recent years and it would be fantastic if we could return their loyalty with some silverware this season."

Pressley was speaking at the launch of"Hearts - Great Tynecastle Tales", a book just published by Mainstream which chronicles the favourite tales of the famous old ground by Hearts players and other prominent figures, including Vladimir Romanov, past and present.

Pressley added: "This stadium is steeped in history and because the stands are almost on top of the players it helps generate a fantastic atmosphere.

"When it's full, the National Stadium at Hampden is fantastic but when it isn't at capacity it can struggle to create an atmosphere. However, even when it's only 50 or 60 per cent full the stadium at Tynecastle can still generate a great atmosphere

Taken from the Daily Record