Ivanauskas calms excited Hearts

Hearts 3 - 0 Siroki Brijeg
Anic 53og, Tall 79, Bednar 84

Ewan Murray at Murrayfield
Thursday July 27, 2006
Guardian Unlimited

The Hearts manager Valdas Ivanauskas last night refused to accept that his team are through to the third qualifying stage of the Champions League despite the Edinburgh side taking a three-goal lead to the second leg in Bosnia next week.

Branimir Anic's own-goal and late strikes from Ibrahim Tall and Roman Bednar handed Hearts an apparently unassailable lead, not least in the eyes of Siroki's manager Ivica Barbaric. However, Ivanauskas remained cautious. "This was a very important result but it will not be easy for us next week," he warned. "We know how good a team Siroki are at home so we have to be careful."

Article continues
Barbaric conceded that Hearts were the more able side but he harboured a sense of injustice because Anic's goal stemmed from a foul throw by Robbie Neilson. "Hearts definitely have a better team than ours and I want to emphasise that, but they don't need help from referees."

The visitors were also unfortunate not to be ahead after six minutes when Neil McCann appeared to handle Dalibor Silic's corner inside the Hearts box. Espen Berntsen, the Norwegian referee, failed to spot anything.

Siroki, who won the Bosnian championship for the second time in three years last season, grew in confidence as their hosts struggled for first-half momentum and one of four Brazilians in the team, Santos Wagner, curled a 25-yard free-kick inches wide before the interval.

The draw for the third and final qualifying round of this competition takes place tomorrow, with the likes of Liverpool, Arsenal, Ajax and Benfica lying in wait. More importantly for Hearts, progression to the potentially lucrative next round would also guarantee a place in the Uefa Cup and even more revenue.

Without doubt Ivanauskas reiterated the importance of this contest to his players during the break and Hearts began the second half with the sort of vigour that carried them to second place in the Scottish Premierleague last season. "I told the players to remain calm," the manager said after the game. "It was very important for us not to concede a goal but I felt if we could score one we could score more."

The unfortunate Anic headed past his own goalkeeper nine minutes after the restart from Neilson's trademark long throw. The Edinburgh side pressed for a crucial second goal and that duly arrived with 12 minutes to play when Tall picked up a Michal Pospisil cross at the near post. Bednar capitalised on a dreadfully short back-pass from Ivica Landeka to complete the scoring.

Taken from the Guardian/Observer