YOUNG GUN ELLIOT TIPPED FOR TOP PRIZE

By Ronnie Esplin, PA Sport

Hearts two-goal hero Edgaras Jankauskas tipped 18-year-old team-mate Calum Elliot to pick up the Scottish young player of the year award after the Gorgie club's 3-0 win over Motherwell in the Bank of Scotland Premier League at Tynecastle.

The Lithuanian made his first appearance in six weeks after recovering from a hamstring injury to grab a first-half double and Elliot scored his sixth goal of the season late in the game to secure the points.

The former Porto striker said: "I would be happy to see him win the young player award. He is doing well and is as good a young player as any I've seen in the game.

"He is progressing all the time, he's working hard and listening to the advice he is getting from the other more experienced players. For an 18-year-old that is great."

Hearts head coach Graham Rix welcomed back Jankauskas and Czech Republic striker Roman Bednar, who replaced the Lithuanian as a second-half substitute to mark his return from a knee injury which has sidelined him since December.

Rix said: "Edgaras led the line brilliantly. He holds the ball up and brings people into play and he took the weight of young Calum.

"He scored his two goals and I am delighted for him. While he was injured he was working hard with the physios without necessarily making good progress.

"Then he comes in and plays like that so it shows you what a good player we have been missing in the last couple of months - and the same goes for Roman.

"We don't know what would have happened in the league if both had been fit recently but the main thing is the pair of them would get into most SPL sides."

Motherwell manager Terry Butcher was left rueing a poor start to the match which saw his side miss a second-minute sitter through striker Scott McDonald before finding themselves two goals down after only 13 minutes.

He said: "If you give Hearts two goals start it's a very difficult task. It's unbelievable that we've hit the woodwork twice.

"The first time we hit the post they broke away and scored and instead of being 1-0 up we are 1-0 down.

"We gave away a sloppy second goal although it was a wonderful finish by Jankauskas. But we contributed to that with a poor clearance.

"If we had that chance our strikers would have hit both posts then the bar and then it would have come out.

"But we kept plugging away and played some decent football in the second-half.

"At 2-0 down the next goal was vital but we couldn't get it and when they went 3-0 up that was that."

Taken from sportinglife.com