Deadline deal

HRISTOS KARIPIDIS signed a three-year contract with Hearts today and should be available to face his compatriots AEK Athens in the final qualifying round of the Champions League.

The 23-year-old Greek defender has become Valdas Ivanauskas' second recruit after Hearts' majority shareholder, Vladimir Romanov, parted with £200,000 to bring him to Edinburgh from PAOK Salonika.

His registration was due to be processed today, thereby beating the midnight deadline for naming squads to participate in the final qualifying round of UEFA's premier club competition.

The move is further boost to Hearts after they eliminated Siroki Brijeg from the second qualifier on aggregate in Bosnia-Herzegovina last night.

Karipidis jetted into Edinburgh airport from Salonika yesterday afternoon and could make his Hearts debut at home to Celtic this Sunday before AEK arrive at Murrayfield next Wednesday.

He told the Evening News of his relief and delight at securing the move he craved after making a personal plea to PAOK president Ioannis Goumenos. He said: "I am so happy to be signing for Hearts and I will fight 100 per cent for a place in the team. I spoke with Takis Fyssas and it is important for me to have a Greek guy with me in the squad. Yesterday was a difficult day for me because I am leaving PAOK but I am going to a bigger club and I want to bring them lots of success."

Surprisingly, Romanov was critical of his team in the wake of their 0-0 draw in the Pecara Stadium last night. A handful of impressive saves by Craig Gordon preserved Hearts' clean sheet over the two legs, but Romanov believes much work is yet to be done if the side is to progress further in the competition.

He said: "I am not really satisfied. We got the result but the game was not very good. I'm glad that we are in the next round but I didn't like the game itself and I don't think we are ready yet for the new season.

"I'm not thinking about Athens, I'm thinking about the team itself and its preparation. Maybe our preparations for this campaign started a little late."

Ivanauskas himself was satisfied after his players managed a convincing scoreline over the two legs but he reserved special praise for Gordon, saying: "He is the best goalkeeper I have ever encountered. He has that very important quality that in big games he can produce that special thing which can help you win.

"I played against great goalkeepers during my career, like Oliver Kahn and Jens Lehmann, but Craig is 23 and for someone at such a young age he is just such a good goalkeeper.

"I'm just happy with the result because in Champions League games and international games all that matters is the result. We knew before the game that we had to be careful. We knew Siroki were a good team in their home stadium and they started very well against us with a lot of chances but we had Craig Gordon."

Full-back Robbie Neilson has been included in Walter Smith's Scotland squad for their gathering in two weeks' time, the first time he has received international recognition at top-team level.

Neilson captained the Scotland Future Team last season but his promotion to the full side is a strong indication that Smith will name him for the forthcoming start to the 2008 European Championship qualifying campaign against the Faroe Islands and Lithuania.

Taken from the Scotsman