Mikoliunas indulging in extra lessons to prove he's no 'teacher's pet'

THOUGH he quickly became a fans' favourite not long after his arrival at Hearts, more recently Saulius Mikoliunas has had to put up with the tag of teacher's pet. The other Lithuanians in the squad are there on merit, say his detractors, but Mikoliunas has kept his place only thanks to the fondness for him of the club's owner, Vladimir Romanov, and of the interim manager, Valdas Ivanauskas.

It is certainly true that the 22-year-old has found it hard this season to recapture the form he showed in February and March last year following his loan signing from Kaunas, but he is hardly the first footballer to fade after a bright beginning. Rudi Skacel, for instance, has been far less influential since the turn of the year, to the extent that one of the key decisions to be made by Hearts' coaching team for today's Scottish Cup final against Gretna is the choice between the Czech and Mikoliunas.

Although the latter has been dropped from the squad altogether on occasion since Ivanauskas took over from Graham Rix, his selection ahead of Skacel would be confirmation for many sceptics that he benefits from preferential treatment. He insists, however, that Ivanauskas makes his selections on merit.

"He doesn't do things like 'You're Lithuanian, then you play'," said Mikoliunas. "You must show in training that you deserve a place - and then you play."

It is surely the case, nonetheless, that Mikoliunas feels more confident and motivated now than he did under Rix. Indeed, the playing staff as a whole have responded positively to Ivanauskas's approach, which is at once more supportive and more demanding than that of the cautious, eager-to-please Englishman he replaced.

"I think Valdas deserves to become manager," Mikoliunas said. "Since he became [acting] manager we've started to play good football. There was the 3-0 [league] win against Celtic, which was a good result, and the 4-0 win against Hibs in the semi-final. Valdas was my hero when I was young. He was my favourite player from Lithuania because he was the first from our country to play in the Bundesliga. He knows me better than anyone and he can get the best out of me."

John Robertson certainly did that in early 2005, after Mikoliunas turned up at Tynecastle as very much the junior partner to another Lithuanian winger, Deividas Cesnauskis. Although Cesnauskis had more international experience, Robertson reckoned that Mikoliunas adapted more quickly to the SPL, and picked him ahead of Cesnauskis.

"John Robertson gave me a chance - he believed in me and that gave me confidence," Mikoliunas explained. "I missed my home for the first three months. It was difficult because it was my first travel outside of Lithuania. But here the players were very friendly and they helped me."

While he quickly became acquainted with Hearts' history - "I understood from the first game that the Scottish Cup is a very big competition here, because I knew Hearts won it in 1998 and there were big celebrations" - Mikoliunas perhaps only really grasped the size and fervour of the club's support at the start of last month. As the team bus rolled into Hampden for the semi-final against Hibs, it was greeted by an honour guard of thousands of scarf-twirling supporters, and, while many of his team-mates retained their composure, Mikoliunas was visibly surprised by this Sunday-morning display. It was, after all, distinctly different to what he had experienced back home, even in the cup final.

"We won the cup when I was with Kaunas and Valdas was the coach. There were maybe 2,000 people there. Here you live in Lithuania it's basketball.

"I didn't play in the final because of a knee injury. I was really disapointed, because I was young and really wanted to get a medal and go up there and lift the cup."

The only question today is whether the medal Mikoliunas gets will be for winning or losing, for one way or the other he is sure to be in the squad. If he does not start, he will come on at some stage in the second half to test the tiring legs of his opponents.

He does not want to be written off as an impact substitute, or as a player who cannot be relied upon against the bigger teams, but he has accepted that, as Ivanauskas has told him, there are parts of his game he must work on if he is to merit inclusion from the start.

"At first [being omitted] was difficult, but I told myself I will show that I can play and I was working hard at training. I have been working on my fitness, with a little gym work, to improve myself physically. I want to do that because Valdas has spoken to me about it. I think my form isn't too bad. I am still waiting to get all of my confidence back. But of course I can play much better."

Cesnauskis has already taken similar advice on board, and now tracks back far more effectively than Mikoliunas. In the critical game at Tynecastle against Aberdeen ten days ago, for instance, at one point he broke down an attack on the edge of his own box.

Mikoliunas knows he will have to develop his own game along those lines if he is to have a major role at Hearts in the coming years. What he does not know at present is if he will be given the chance to do so beyond the expiry of his loan deal.

"I'm on loan here until the end of the season, and after that I will speak," he said, meaning he would discuss his future with the club. "Of course I want to stay, because we are in the qualifying rounds of the Champions League and it will be very positive to play there."

Taken from the Scotsman