Bednar all set to face Lions

HEARTS are set to unleash powerful Czech striker Roman Bednar on relegation-threatened Livingston tomorrow as they bid for a return to the SPL summit.

Bednar played for the final half-hour of the 1-1 draw at Fir Park last week, his first action since requiring knee surgery after injuring himself against Rangers in September.

The 22-year-old has been training and looking increasingly sharp at the club's Riccarton base throughout this week and head coach Graham Rix is contemplating restoring Bednar to his starting line-up, conscious that victory will see Hearts regain first place in the league with Celtic inactive until they face Aberdeen at Pittodrie on Sunday.

"Bednar is available for selection. He played 45 minutes for the reserves during the week and came through that with no ill-effects. That was the plan all along so he is ready," said Hearts coach John McGlynn.

"The strikers have been injured a lot recently so it will be great to have Roman back. He is very enthusiastic and very quick so that gives us good options. He is a handful for any defender."

Whether Bednar can return alongside the man with whom he struck up a notable rapport at the start of the season, Edgaras Jankauskas, will be dependant on a last-minute decision by the Hearts management team. The Lithuanian's hamstring injury is improving but he remains touch and go to face Livingston. "Jankauskas is getting better all the time so it will probably be a last-minute decision," added McGlynn.

"He will no doubt want to play and he could be fit to play but if he was to go and push himself too far he could end up with the injury recurring. We started the season with Roman and Jankauskas up front and we were scoring plenty of goals so, hopefully, when both of them are back then we can return to that form."

Taken from the Scotsman