has been an ideal setting for the players, according to captain Steven Pressley, as they enjoyed a final run around Windischgarsten. Pictures: MICHAEL HUGHES

WHILE the Hearts squad's primary task will be upping fitness and sharpness levels against FC Cluj in the Austrian town of Steinach-lerdning tonight, their minds can be expected to wander.

The Romanian Divizia A side will present an awkward test in a location 40 kilometres from Hearts' Windischgarsten base but there is an altogether more important encounter taking place at the same time in Gomel, Belarus.

Shakhtyor Soligorsk, Belarussian title winners, host the champions of Bosnia-Herzegovina, Siroki Brijeg, in the first leg of Champions League qualifying round one this evening. After the second leg in Bosnia next week, the winners will progress to face Hearts in qualifying round two.

Although captain Steven Pressley betrays no indication of a preference regarding his prospective opponents, it is very much a case of better the devil you know for Hearts.

New sporting director Eduard Malofeev arrived at the squad's pre-season training camp last week with a multitude of knowledge on Belarussian football, garnered during his time as youth academy director at another of Vladimir Romanov's clubs, MTZ Ripo of Minsk.

That priceless insight will be filtered through Pressley and out to the rest of the team, but the Scotland defender is, at the same time, mindful that Siroki Brijeg, as the seeded side in the first qualifier, are favourites to make the journey to Edinburgh in a fortnight's time.

"We realise that both teams will be of good quality but they hold no fears for us," said Pressley. "We believe we can win the tie as long as we are ready in our minds, so there's no preference regarding who we might meet.

"If it is the Belarussians who go through to play us then I would imagine Mr Malofeev will have first-class knowledge of the football over there. Mr Romanov himself is the owner of the club in Minsk and I'm sure he has an insight into things in the country.

"We'll be fully knowledgeable on Shakhtyor but I honestly don't know a great deal about the Bosnians. Regardless of who we play, this tie will be all about ourselves. If we make sure we are right and our attitude is correct then I think we'll progress."

Single-minded confidence isn't a bad thing to have in football, and it is little wonder that Pressley is so doggedly determined given that the last ten days here in Austria have been specifically structured to prepare Hearts for their first flirtation with the Champions League.

Matches against LASK Linz and Spartak Trnava in Windischgarsten will be rounded off against Cluj tonight before the journey back to Edinburgh tomorrow afternoon. Head coach Valdas Ivanauskas has seen his players embrace their pre-season schedule enthusiastically, and this evening's outing is predicted to be another rigorous examination. "I expect Cluj to play in a similar manner to both Shakhtyor and Siroki Brijeg," said Pressley. "They finished fourth in the Romanian league, I'd imagine their players to have good technical quality and it will be a good challenge for us. Hopefully we can build on the confidence gained from Saturday's performance.

"You could see already, between our opening game against Linz and the win over Spartak, that there was a definite improvement in terms of our passing and our fitness. All aspects of our play were better and hopefully that will move on again in the coming weeks.

"There is little more than two weeks until the first Champions League qualifying game, but I'm sure when that comes along the players will be ready."

Some senior members of the side already know what to expect on the Continent. Edgaras Jankauskas has seen it, done it and got the proverbial T-shirt from the Champions League after winning the tournament with Porto in 2004. Greek full-back Takis Fyssas has amassed more than 50 Champions League appearances during his career and Pressley himself is no stranger to the competition.

"It was in that arena I first got the opportunity to play in Europe with Rangers in the 1990s, but over the last few years we've had some great experiences in Europe with this Hearts team. Some of the teams we played have been fantastic and sampling the UEFA Cup group stages was a great time.

"This would be a step up in class and, if we were to make the group phase of the Champions League, it would be one of the finest achievements made by this club.

"You should always aspire to something like that.

"Some of our younger foreigners have yet to play in it, but guys like Takis and Edgaras Jankauskas have a multitude of experience at that level.

"Neil McCann, during Dick Advocaat's reign at Ibrox, notched up a lot of Champions League appearances, so from that point of view it's a big plus.

"We also have the young, hungry players desperate to prove themselves on that stage.

"For raising the profile of the club and the players within it, there's no better place to do it than the Champions League."

Equally, for quietly preparing to enter such a frenzied cauldron, there can be no better environment than the tranquility of Windischgarsten.

As Hearts get ready to vacate this tiny Austrian town and take to the skies that are dominated by snow-topped mountains, they do so in the knowledge that they have been well served by the locals and their facilities.

Pressley went on: "It's been an excellent training base for us.

"The hotel has been first-class accommodation. The training pitches and the stadium we've used for the games has been top class, so hats off to Valdas for bringing us here.

"It's given us excellent preparation for the Champions League qualifiers. An added plus has been the couple of thunderstorms we've had here. That has meant there's been a little bit of give in the training surface because it's softened up."

No room for give in the Champions League, as either Shakhtyor Soligorsk or Siroki Brijeg may discover tonight. Whoever adapts quickest can look forward to some real thunder at Murrayfield at the end of the month.

Taken from the Scotsman