JANKAUSKAS READY TO STRIKE OUT

By Ronnie Esplin, PA Sport

Hearts striker Edgaras Jankauskas has targeted a return to the Gorgie line-up for their Champions League qualifier against AEK Athens at Murrayfield on Wednesday.

The Lithuanian helped the Edinburgh side to a 3-0 home win over Siroki Brijeg in the first leg of the second qualifier but a hamstring injury picked up in training forced him out of the goalless return leg.

The 31-year-old was also sidelined for the first two Bank of Scotland Premier League fixtures of the season against Dunfermline and Celtic, both of which Hearts won.

However, the former Porto and FBK Kaunas hit-man is determined to regain his place against the Greeks.

He said: "I will take a fitness test tomorrow and we will see.

"At the moment I'm feeling quite good, better than a few days ago.

"I'm not 100% fit because I've missed almost two weeks training so it will be tough to last the whole game, but I'm hoping to be in the squad and help the team if I can.

"When you are injured it's frustrating watching your colleagues playing. I want to be back as quickly as possible.

"I'm happy the boys are doing well because we need to win these games.

"Personally, I prefer to play away in the first leg because then you know what you have to do at home in the second game, but it's at home first so we have to try to win it.

"We played Celtic on Sunday so there has not been a lot of time to talk about AEK but we will do that on Tuesday.

"We are confident but not over confident. We know they are a great team and technically very good, so we will take it very seriously."

The Tynecastle men's 2-1 victory over Celtic at Tynecastle, thanks to a Roman Bednar double, put them behind St Mirren at the top of the SPL on goal difference.

At the beginning of last season, under then head coach George Burley, the Edinburgh side won their first eight games but eventually ran out of steam leaving the Parkhead club to cruise to their title win.

A new belief has swept around Tynecastle in the wake of their win against the Glasgow giants but Jankauskas warned fans against thinking the Gorgie side are now in the driving seat in this season's championship race.

He said: "If you remember, we started very well last season and we won our first eight games.

"We are playing well and have won both our league games but we have to take every game as it comes.

"That's the way to go through the whole year although, of course, it's not possible to win every game.

"But you cannot think that we are now going to win the league because we beat Celtic on Sunday."

Taken from sportinglife.com