Old woes a concern for Ivanauskas

Preston 1 / Hearts 2
Stewart Fisher at Deepdale

BARCELONA and Chelsea may not exactly be quaking in their boots, but Hearts’ unblemished Champions League build-up continues.

A fourth unbeaten pre-season game against a side who have qualified for the Championship play-offs in each of the last two years would be enough for most managers, but in Valdas Ivanauskas yesterday we were in the presence of a pre-season perfectionist. Citing a soft Simon Whaley strike which cut into his team’s early lead, the Lithuanian insisted his side must stop losing silly goals if they are to even make it beyond Bosnians Siroki Brijeg or Shakhtyor Soligorsk, or Belarus, in the second preliminary round clash at Murrayfield in ten days’ time.

“I think the first 30-35 minutes was okay but after that we lost a bit of concentration,” he said. “Everybody understands we have just 11 days before the Champions League game. Overall in terms of the performance I am happy, but it is a little bit of problem. In the last game in Austria [against FC Cluj] we lost a goal in the last minute, and another lapse of concentration cost us a goal here.”

Hearts hit the ground running in the SPL last year and require an equally fast start this time around. They will learn the first competitive opponents this Wednesday, the same evening the Tynecastle club decamp over the road for a dry run at the home of Scottish rugby against Osasuna next midweek. The first team selected itself – literally – for great swathes of last season, but predicting the starting eleven for the qualifier is currently no easy business.

Ivanauskas had appeared in the papers presenting himself as Scotland’s version of Claudio ‘Tinkerman’ Ranieri (as if, with Vladimir Romanov around, he will have any choice in the matter) and it was in this spirit that 18-year-old Andrew Driver came in on the left flank. Paul Hartley is already out of the first leg Champions League tie with a hamstring injury, and there was no place in the squad yesterday for Edgaras Jankauskas, Deividas Cesnauskis or Nerijus Barasa, all of whom have similar, if less serious, complaints.

Some or all can be expected to recover in time, however, as can Craig Gordon, who missed out yesterday with a groin strain. Less surprising was the absence of Rudi Skacel and Andy Webster, with Preston’s Lancashire neighbours Wigan the latest to be linked with the Scotland defender. Two World Cup stars are also set to join up with the squad on Monday, and it is “possible” that they may feature on Wednesday.

Of the two triallists who had been with the squad in Austria, there was no sighting of Georgi Pophadze, although former Benfica midfielder Tiago Costa was given half an hour. Much like his Portuguese countrymen this summer, one of his first real impacts was to earn the scorn of the home fans for appearing to exaggerate a foul.

But it was teenager Driver who had the perfect opportunity to get his side motoring. Instead, he suffered a car crash moment, steering the ball off the outside the post from two yards after Bednar had capitalised on a Liam Chilvers error. Driver would skew wide again when clean through later in the half, but Ivanauskas admitted he had become a contender to take Skacel’s place in the fast lane for the upcoming Champions League tie. “Andrew has been full-time with the first team squad from the France trip, and then on to Austria,” said Ivanauskas. “He has done well everywhere so yes he has a chance to play in that game. Having said that, he is a young boy and we have to be careful.”

As it turned out, the goal was merely delayed. Roman Bednar ran onto countryman Michal Pospisil’s clever pass and slid the ball under the advancing Andrew Lonergan. Three minutes later, Saulius Mikoliunas caught Graham Alexander dawdling in possession and lashed the second high past Lonergan.

Paul Simpson is the latest to inherit the Preston North End manager’s job, the former Carlisle boss taking up a hot seat which has been graced by Bobby Charlton and Nobby Stiles, not to mention Scots such as Craig Brown, Billy Davies and Davie Moyes. For all their success, few clubs know more about the difficulties of downsizing. This pre-season the club has sold Claude Davis to Sheffield United for £3m, and face a battle to hang on to striker David Nugent.

It had been a start to remind watchers of the muscular football which took Hearts into second place in the SPL, but with both attacks troubling their respective defences, Preston were always likely to trouble Hearts at some stage, and so it proved just after the half hour mark. A Takis Fyssas clearance struck Whaley, and the right winger reacted first to steer the ball past Banks. Half-time came at a good time for the visitors, with a volley from Danny Pugh forcing a fine save from Banks.

The second half soon degenerated into a game of spot the substitution, although Bednar had a goal correctly disallowed from offside, a penalty incorrectly denied when manhandled by Youl Mawene, and Carlo Nash had to make a smart save to deny an Ibrahim Tall header.

Afterwards Simpson admitted Hearts had been “two or three weeks ahead of them”. In truth, the gap was light years.

Preston North End: Lonergan (Nash 45); Wilson, Mawene, Chilvers (Sedgwick 65), Alexander; Whaley (Neal 55), Jarrett (Stock 72), McKenna (O’Neil 72), Pugh; Dichio (Agyemang 45), Nugent (Hibbert 72).

Hearts: Banks; Neilson, Pressley (Tall 45), Berra, Fyssas (Tiago Costa 59); Mikoliunas, Brellier (Johnson 65), Aguiar (Neill 80), Driver (Beslija 72); Bednar (Makela 75), Pospisil (Mole 75). Subs not used: MacDonald.

Referee: C Foy

Taken from the Sunday Herald