Our deadly duo

THE deadly duo of Edgaras Jankauskas and Roman Bednar can fire Hearts to Scottish Cup glory tomorrow, says coach John McGlynn.

The main goalscoring duties for the cup favourites will fall on the shoulders of the Lithuanian and his Czech colleague, who stand 6ft 4in and 6ft 3in respectively.

Jankauskas and Bednar have resumed their attacking alliance in deadly fashion in recent weeks, with both displaying the kind of productive form that saw them explode onto the Scottish game at the start of the season.

Injuries had curtailed their progress over the winter, but with the midfield probing of Paul Hartley supporting their cause McGlynn believes Jankauskas and Bednar will flourish at Hampden against Second Division Gretna.

"I think we saw against Celtic and Aberdeen recently that Edgaras and Roman are doing the business now," said McGlynn enthusiastically. "They are the ones who can do the most damage for us at Hampden.

"They are our first-choice pairing. Calum Elliot and Michal Pospisil have come in and done brilliantly for us at various times throughout the season when Edgaras and Roman were out. A lot of credit goes to them for keeping us on course, but no one would deny that Jankauskas and Bednar are real quality and will cause problems.

"The players are ready to take their opportunity. You can never say how often you are going to get to cup finals."

McGlynn dropped his normally reserved stance on the issue of who will be the next permanent head coach at Hearts to endorse the dedication of Valdas Ivanauskas since he assumed the role on a temporary basis.

Ivanauskas took over from Graham Rix back in March and has won six of his nine matches in charge, including guiding the side into the Champions League qualifying rounds as well as tomorrow's cup final.

"I would like to think our relationship has worked well so far," said McGlynn. "I would favour Valdas getting the job because there is a bit of trust there between us. I don't see any reason why we need anyone else. Valdas has done a good job and I don't see what anyone else could do that would be better. There may be someone new brought in during the summer. That person might have a good track record but the players will have to get used to a new manager all over again and that's always a gamble when you have something that seems to be working fine."

Defender Andy Webster has been named by Ivanauskas in Hearts' 19-man squad for Hampden after recovering from an Achilles injury. He has not played since the 1-0 defeat at Celtic Park on April 5 after refusing to sign a contract extension. Teenage striker Elliot is also included despite playing 120 minutes in the SFA Youth Cup final on Wednesday night. He has issued a personal plea to Ivanauskas to grant him a place on the bench, but with only five substitutes allowed to be named the youngster's chances remain in the balance.

"It would be a dream come true to be involved," he said. "I didn't think I did my chances any harm when I came on against Rangers last week, so hopefully Valdas will at least put me on the bench because I've played in every round so far."

The squad trained at their Riccarton base this morning before travelling to their hotel in Glasgow, where they will prepare overnight.

Midfielder Paul Hartley, meanwhile, has been named Player of the Round by sponsors Tennent's for his hat-trick in the Scottish Cup semi-final win over Hibs.

Taken from the Scotsman