Hearts chief: No Rudi rift

HEARTS' interim head coach Valdas Ivanauskas today moved to play down rumours of a rift with Czech midfielder Rudi Skacel.

The on-loan Marseille player is believed to have walked out of Tynecastle an hour before kick-off on Saturday after discovering he had not been included in the 18-man squad for the match against Dunfermline.

Skacel was also left on the bench for the midweek match against SPL champions Celtic at Parkhead and the latest omission has sparked rumours that he could quit the club in the summer.

Reports elsewhere suggested that the player had been involved in contract talks on Friday but was dropped from the team after failing to reach an agreement over a permanent move to Tynecastle.

However, Ivanauskas today insisted that Skacel was still part of his plans and maintained that the midfielder had simply been in need of a rest.

"We have many players and Rudi is only one of them," he said. "He needed a rest and we need a fresh Rudi. He was not in the squad but I see no problem. It was the same situation with Andy Webster and Julien Brellier.

"We are looking at every team differently. Saturday was Dunfermline and this week it is Kilmarnock. The players are professional and they are very experienced. With clever players they can understand and we all knew that this has been a hard week for us because we have played three big games."

The player's agent Viktor Kolar admitted that Skacel had been disappointed not to be named in the squad, saying: "Rudi said he was okay to play but he was not selected. The manager makes that decision and he chose a different team. Rudi want to play in every match so he was disappointed."

Meanwhile, Ivanauskas revealed that a return to the power and passion football of early season will serve the side best as they strive to qualify for the Champions League.

The Hearts coach saw his players dispatch three goals past Dunfermline in a blistering first half at Tynecastle on Saturday as the players delivered a performance reminiscent of George Burley's tenure.

At the start of the season, it was the devastating way Hearts begun matches that often overwhelmed opponents, and Ivanauskas is seeking a return to that kind of form.

"It was very important, and I said this to the players before the game, that we started properly on Saturday," said the Lithuanian.

"Our first half was very good. It was a difficult match but the players knew what we wanted and they understand our situation. I was very happy with us in the first half and we scored another goal in the second."

The post-split fixtures in the SPL have decreed that Hearts must visit Ibrox on the final day of the season in a potential Champions League play-off. However, Ivanauskas remains unperturbed by the notion.

"We have plenty games to play before we face Rangers so that is a long time away. We don't know what injuries we may pick up or who could be suspended by that time. We are only concentrating on next week against Kilmarnock."

Bruno Aguiar faces a race to be fit for that match against the Rugby Park side after suffering an ankle injury in the closing minutes of Saturday's 4-0 win over Dunfermline. Michal Pospisil and Julien Brellier are also nursing injuries although Aguiar is their main concern.

Taken from the Scotsman