NO KIPS AND NO SLIPS

SIROKI BRIJEG 0

HEARTS 0

(Hearts win 3-0 on agg)

HEARTS made sure the only sleepless night they suffered was on the marathon return journey from Bosnia to Edinburgh.

The Jambos achieved a goalless draw against Siroki Brijeg in Mostar to clinch a showdown with Greek side AEK Athens for a place in the lucrative group stage of the Champions League.

There was never any likelihood of a nightmare against the Bosnians as the Tynecastle side did enough to underline which side possessed the greater individual talent and collective purpose.

Craig Gordon was occasionally called upon to show why he's Scotland's No.1 goalkeeper but even he would have expected no less than that on a night of heavy demands on the Bosnians.

The keeper was Hearts' star player in a game punctuated by his brave stops whenever there was any semblance of trouble to unnerve his team.

Hearts' chances at the other end might have been few but they had done their work in that department when the teams played each other at Murrayfield a week earlier.

They even showed a sense of humour near the end by bringing on their Bosnian, Mirsad Beslija, for Deividas Cesnauskas to annoy the locals - as if they weren't already miffed by the goalless draw and expulsion from the tournament.

Now Hearts face a sterner test of their capabilities and mental strength next midweek when a Greek tragedy has to be avoided in Edinburgh.

A decent down-payment on access to the Champions League's riches has to be made in the first leg.

The glamour of the tournament was nowhere in evidence inside the Picara Stadium, which was the standard of a Second or Third Division club at home.

Three-quarters of the ground was seated but the area behind one goal was a brick wall. The dimensions of the pitch intrigued Hearts owner Vladimir Romanov so much that he paced it out for himself an hour before kick-off.

Hearts had been told Tynecastle's playing surface was too tight to stage a Champions League tie.

Two water sprinklers were clearly visible at one end of the narrow pitch to provide an obvious hazard to the players.

They brought to mind the time Richard Gough blamed one such instrument for costing Scotland a goal against Switzerland in a World Cup qualifying tie.

The grass on the pitch was longer than normal and parts of it had been sprinkled to the extent it was closer to being waterlogged than anything else.

All of this was clearly designed to make the playing surface as much of a leveller as possible for two sides who were a gulf apart in terms of class.

The problem added to unbearable humidity for the Hearts players who must have been glad they were defending a 3-0 lead and not chasing survival.

Michal Pospisil took the place of the injured Edgaras Jankauskas up front and Julien Brellier returned to central midfield at the expense of Ibrahim Tall, the only alterations to the team that built the first-leg advantage.

The Bosnians reverted to a 4-3-3 system in the hope of somehow making headway towards reducing their deficit and planting a seed of doubt in Hearts' minds.

But they looked too frail at the other end of the park to make the change worthwhile.

Cesnauskas was brought down as he bore in on goal after only six minutes and Roman Bednar sent in a viciously struck free-kick that the goalkeeper spilled and then had to grab at the second attempt as Christophe Berra raced in to try to reach the rebound.

The travelling support thought Hearts had taken the lead two minutes later when Vladimir Vasilj punched Neil McCann's corner over the line but the keeper was given the benefit of the doubt after the Hungarian referee decided he'd been impeded by Berra.

It was an encouraging start from the Premier League side who looked quicker in thought and physically much stronger than their opponents. Siroki had boundless enthusiasm to offer but posed no kind of threat to Gordon's goal until the 16th minute when one of their Brazilians, Celson, forced the Scotland international into a fine parried save with a shot struck from outside the box.

It was a momentary lapse from a Hearts side who were dominating the match and pressing for an opening goal themselves.

But they had Gordon to thank once again when he saved a firmly-struck free-kick from Mislav Karoglan midway through the first half.

There could have been no greater discouragement to a side who needed at least three goals out of their night's work to find that the other team had such a commanding presence in goal.

Gordon's handling at cross balls was immaculate as well and he sent confidence through the rest of his side, enough to help Hearts withstand three corners in quick succession without their goal being endangered.

That was the closest it came to Hearts having their backs to the wall before the interval and they were then playing the percentages. If Siroki had failed to score a goal against the Edinburgh side in one and a half matches, how could they possibly conjure up a trio of them in only half a game?

The answer was that they couldn't raise anything about their game enough to make scoring any more of a likelihood than it had been previously, while Hearts still had on their determined faces at the back.

Brellier also deserted the middle of the park to help out as an auxiliary defender when extra help was needed twice after the re-start.

He was there to knock the ball away and then head clear when Siroki realised time was running out and came forward in numbers.

But the Bosnians couldn't even take advantage of the referee's generosity when he ignored a blatant trip on Steven Pressley and Berra moved across to clear up the danger.

Hearts did live dangerously when Wagner cut the ball back to compatriot Celson and his shot had to be beaten down by a combination of Berra and Bednar as a goal seemed inevitable.

In the 77th minute, Gordon again made an impressive save, pushing a drive from substitute Hrvoge Erceg - who had come on for Marko Kovacic - round the post.

Hearts defended the set-piece easily and at the other end Bruno Aguiar fired a 25-yard free-kick just past.

The occasional skirmish in front of goal was understandable on a night when Hearts' obligation was to protect their aggregate lead and the Bosnians had to look for a dramatic chain of events.

But the longer the game wore on, the more it looked as if the Scottish club would be rewarded for their diligence.

Tall also replaced Robbie Neilson and Saulius Mikoliunas came on for the hard-working McCann with an hour gone.

That might have had the dual intention of giving the team fresh legs to consolidate their European position and conserve the energy of two men with a demanding league game to play against Celtic on Sunday.

Taken from the Daily Record