Ivanauskas not concerned by Rangers

HEARTS boss Valdas Ivanauskas today insisted he's not interested in how Rangers are performing, despite the Ibrox side dropping two vital points on Saturday.

The Tynecastle side's Champions League hopes were given a boost as Aberdeen held Alex McLeish's men to a 1-1 draw, a goal from former Hearts star Scott Severin pegging them back after Kris Boyd had give the Govan side the advantage.

That result, coupled with Hearts' 2-0 win over Kilmarnock, saw Ivanauskas' side extend the gap between themselves and Rangers to five points with just four matches remaining.

That puts Hearts within touching distance of a place in the Champions League qualifiers and they now know that a win over Hibs next weekend, combined with anything other than a Rangers victory in the Old Firm match, would virtually guarantee them second place.

But Ivanauskas is taking nothing for granted and maintained: "It was nice to hear the result from Ibrox, but we are not looking at what Rangers are doing, we only look at our own game.

"Congratulations to Aberdeen because they now have a big chance to go into Europe next year, but we are concentrating only on what we are doing. That is what is important."

The Hearts coach is hoping he will have captain Steven Pressley available for the match at Easter Road on Saturday after he missed the win over Killie with a back problem.

Ivanauskas opted for a central pairing of Jose Goncalves and Christope Berra at the back - omitting Andy Webster from the squad altogether, although he insisted the defender had simply been rested.

However, he believes Pressley at least should return to his usual berth at the weekend, adding: "We are hoping that Steven will be back for the Hibs game.

"He is the leader and captain of our team and is a very experienced player.

"He spoke to me on Friday because he had a problem in training and we did not want to risk him on Saturday.

"We need him for next week and we would hope that he is ready for that one."

Ivanauskas refused to make any comment on Berra's second-half challenge on Danny Invincibile on Saturday, the Lithuanian coach having landed himself in hot water with the SFA when he criticised referee Dougie McDonald for denying Hearts a penalty at Parkhead a fortnight ago.

He was sent to the stand in that match and is expected to face a fine for his comments but former Hearts manager Jim Jefferies was more forthcoming.

He was furious with the decision, believing it should have been a straight red card and raged: "I don't want to get myself into trouble, but Danny said his heels were clipped by the defender.

"We didn't get the break either against Celtic last week when we had a good goal chalked off for offside and we seem to have a problem with the 43rd minute, I'll certainly not be taking that number in the lottery from now on.

"We weathered the storm and I didn't think Hearts looked like scoring in the second half, in fact if anyone was going to score I thought it would be us.

"But then Paul Hartley scored a quality free-kick and you have to give them credit for that."

Taken from the Scotsman