Pressley fears 'politics' will ruin Hearts' ambitions

STEVEN Pressley has urged the Hearts hierarchy not to allow "football politics" to wreck the club's hopes of clinching the remaining Champions League spot.

The Tynecastle captain was speaking after weekend results saw the second-placed side's lead over third-placed Rangers cut to four points with three games of the SPL season remaining.

Hearts slipped to a 2-1 defeat at the hands of Hibs on Saturday having "rested" four first-team players for the match at Easter Road. The omission of Andy Webster, Rudi Skacel, Julian Brellier and Edgaras Jankauskas from the starting line-up, along with the injury-enforced absence of Takis Fyssas and Pressley himself, severely weakened the Gorgie side and led to inevitable speculation that club owner Vladimir Romanov had once again interfered in team selection.

The failure of Valdas Ivanauskas, Hearts' caretaker coach, to explain fully why so many leading players had been left out only served to exacerbate the situation.

Pressley, who missed the match with a back problem, stressed the need yesterday for all sides to pull together.

He said: "One of the most important aspects from my point of view is we have to ensure football politics don't get in the road of the success of the team.

"That is vitally important for the rest of the season."

Jankauskas and Webster were not even listed among the substitutes at Easter Road despite the pair's fine form over the course of the season. The latter's omission was particularly surprising given Pressley and fellow-defender Jose Goncalves were both out injured. Webster, who has a year to run on his Tynecastle contract but has turned down an extension offer, has now missed three successive matches.

Dave Mackay, the former Hearts captain who helped the club to league and cup success in the 1950s, was a concerned spectator at Easter Road and yesterday urged Hearts to allow Ivanauskas to pick his best team.

Mackay said: "You should always play your strongest team. When I played at Tottenham we would play our best X1 no matter if it was a cup tie or a league game.

"It's different down south with the likes of Man U and Arsenal when they play in European games and then league games at the weekend.

"Mr Romanov has certainly put money into the club but it has to be run on footballing terms."

With Pressley and Webster both out, Hearts faced Hibs with the central defensive pairing of Christophe Berra and Ibrahim Tall. The latter was making his first start for the club.

Derek Watson, secretary of the Hearts Supporters' Trust, hopes Ivanauskas will pick the strongest possible defence for the three remaining matches, starting on Sunday with the visit of Celtic.

"The Andy Webster situation is certainly interesting as he is an integral part of the team," said Watson. "There is obviously this whole thing about his contract as well, but there is the need for points. The defence is a unit and one that was used to playing alongside each other. You are not going to get that unit bringing on or playing different players."

Rangers, who play Hearts at home in the final match, will be without Barry Ferguson for the remainder of the season. The Ibrox captain is believed to have undergone reconstructive surgery on his damaged ankle yesterday and will be out for nine weeks.