THE industry and guile demonstrated by Hearts' recent signing Juho Makela on Saturday becomes all the more impressive when you realise that the striker has not trained properly for more than three months.

After a industrious display as a substitute at Tynecastle against Aberdeen, Makela can again expect to be pressed into action in Dundee at some point this evening as the relentless Scottish football calendar provides a stiff test of the Finn's endurance.

Makela signed off from football in his native Finland by assisting former club HJK Helsinki in their 1-0 victory over champions MyPa on October 15 last year, a result which secured second-place for HJK in the Finnish Veikkausliiga.

With the football season going into hibernation over the often-brutal Finnish winter, the 22-year-old found himself starved of any rigorous exercise, save from a two-match outing with his country in last month's four-nation LG Cup in Saudi Arabia, where he played in a 1-1 draw with the hosts and a 1-0 defeat to South Korea.

His fortnight in the Middle East was, of course, punctuated by phone call after phone call, to Antti Niemi amongst others, as a £500,000 transfer to Hearts neared reality on the back of his 33 goals in 41 games for Helsinki over two years.

And so, Makela arrived in Edinburgh last week, shorn of anything resembling physical sharpness but desperate to endear himself to his new public. His chance was granted him by Graham Rix after 52 minutes of a compelling Scottish Cup victory at the weekend, and to follow up, a confrontation on Tayside is most appealing to the striker.

"Coming off the bench for the first time to that cheer was a magical experience," enthused Makela. "It was a great atmosphere and a great game for us. To win 3-0 on my debut was special, a good start.

"It was played with very good pace and I'm not totally fit so for me it seemed even quicker.

"I tried to cope and do my best on the field but I have a long way to go until I am in top shape. I haven't done a pre-season and it's been quite a while since I last trained with Helsinki. I'm probably only around 70 per cent fit just now. Our season ended in October and I was very busy during January so I didn't train with my own team at all even though they had started back and were preparing for the new Finnish season starting in April.

"I trained with the national team during our two weeks together, plus the little bits of work I have done on my own, but I need plenty of training sessions with Hearts and, of course, games to get fit now.

"When I am in better shape you will see much more fighting and tackling and threatening defenders all the time. I'm very anxious to improve my fitness, and of course goalscoring is my job too. I've started with hard work and I'm going to continue in that way every day here to earn my place in the squad here.

"That's the best way for me."

Craig Brewster, the Dundee United manager, moved to verse himself with some of Hearts' January acquisitions by attending Saturday's victory over Aberdeen.

As he looked on from the Tynecastle main stand with this evening's confrontation at the forefront of his thoughts, a forward of considerable craft like Brewster is sure to have noted Makela's physical exertions in constantly closing down and harassing defenders.

Additionally, after United's early-season ejection from the UEFA Cup at the hands of the aforementioned MyPa, Brewster will be endeavouring to ensure his side are not caught out by another Finn.

"I don't know much about Dundee United but I have heard that we have some tough matches coming up and I think teams want to make it difficult for Hearts because they have become a big team in Scotland," continued Makela. "I remember MyPa won through against Dundee United earlier in the season but they showed themselves well in Finland from what I can recall."

Rix will be hoping that a 24-hour advance on the rest of the SPL can work favourably for Hearts tonight, with title rivals Celtic due to host Falkirk tomorrow evening. The Englishman has yet to manage successive league victories since taking charge at Tynecastle after the last outing against Dundee United, a 3-0 home win back on November 5.

His squad now is sufficiently reinforced compared with then since the arrival of Makela and ten others of varying nationalities, and Rix has set about infiltrating the minds of them all.

"One thing that was in my mind when I was preparing to come on against Aberdeen was what Graham said to me. 'Give 100 per cent and they will love you,' he told me, so that stayed in my head. It made me more determined and I don't think I will be overwhelmed here.

"I know there is tough competition, particularly in the striking department. The situation is that there are lots of players and everyone must earn their place. That means hard work every day but I'm not frightened of that. I would prefer to be 100 per cent fit to stake my claim but that's the way it is. I will give as much as I can, I can't do any more.

"I was looking for a goal against Aberdeen but there were no chances for me. Aberdeen were a man down in defence and I thought that could help me. There wasn't a chance for me to score on Saturday but in future there will be."

That craved-for, account-opening strike may arrive sooner than Makela had anticipated if he is propelled onto the Tannadice pitch this evening, particularly when the porous nature of the Dundee United defence is taken into account along with the injury-enforced absence of former Hearts centre-back Paul Ritchie.

Taken from the Scotsman