Players aim to lift Hearts' condition

After another turbulent week off the pitch, Hearts will be hoping to put things right on it, when they face Falkirk this weekend.

Amid all the furore, the Hearts players must somehow keep focused, as midfield player, Paul Hartley, acknowledged when he said: "Just a normal week at Tynecastle, eh? No, it came as a shock to the players when Graham Rix was sacked because we thought he was definitely here until the end of the season. And it's been a shock because we have so many important games coming up, but it happened to George Burley, so we have been through it before.

"I'm not going to say who I want to win the Champions League place for - and the Scottish Cup - but we all want it for the club and for the supporters.

"Valdas Ivanauskas has come in and he's not new to the players - he knows what we're about because he's been here since August."

Rangers, too, will have one eye on the Hearts score, hopeful that yet another managerial sacking will disrupt their rivals for Scotland's second Champions League place, and Celtic supporters will measure the chances of their side securing the title against the men from Tynecastle a week on Wednesday. Ivanauskas is suspected by some connected with Tynecastle of being the source of the football opinions expressed by Vladimir Romanov, the Hearts' owner, and his son Roman, the chairman.

That belief is liable to be reinforced by comments from Ivanauskas yesterday which echoed the Romanovs' conviction that their team has drawn too many games.

"It was very good when we tried to keep the high tempo during the games recently. We will try to keep the high tempo, but many other teams also try this method of play and then it becomes a challenge so there are other ways we can think about playing," Ivanauskas said.

"We've played lots of games that we drew, but in every game you can always find positives and we all appreciate each game has to become a win, rather than a draw."

Rangers face Dunfermline at Ibrox, and manager, Alex McLeish, was keen to concentrate on his own issues rather than get embroiled in the Hearts' problems. "What happened at Hearts is none of my business and all I can do is extend my sympathies to Graham Rix. We can't think about what is going on at other clubs and can only look at the games ahead for Rangers," McLeish said.

"Hearts are six points ahead at the moment. but it is still possible that we can finish in second place. They still have to come to Ibrox and they also have a couple of games against Celtic so it is all to play for."

Rangers' captain, Barry Ferguson, will play to the end of the campaign despite a persistent ankle injury, but revealed that, should Hearts move out of reach, he will have an operation before the season's finish. Celtic's Shaun Maloney yesterday declared that he wants to sign a new contract with the Glasgow club. "There have been discussions for the past couple of months. Hopefully, it will get sorted out pretty quickly," Maloney said.

Maloney's part of the squad for tomorrow's visit to Livingston and his manager, Gordon Strachan, said:

"We'll do what we always do and there will be no disrespect for Livingston. We prepare for each game in exactly the same way."

Taken from telegraph.co.uk