HUGHES HAILS 'FANTASTIC' START

By Ronnie Esplin, PA Sport

Falkirk manager John Hughes believes the Bairns' performance in their Bank of Scotland Premier League match against Hearts at Tynecastle showed they are already on target to achieve their ambitions in the league this season.

The ebullient visitors were well worth the point in a goalless draw against the disjointed Jambos and are unbeaten in three games and with seven points.

Last season Falkirk won only one of their first nine SPL games but recovered in time to finish 10th in the table, albeit only on goal difference above second-bottom Dunfermline.

Hughes was caught up in the passion of a niggly affair in Edinburgh and was sent to the stand by referee John Underhill after an interval bust-up with Roman Bednar and Michal Pospisil, the Bairns boss angry after both Jambos' players had been involved in an incident that led to his defender Kenny Milne being booked.

However, the former Hibernian defender was keen to turn the attention onto his players and said: "We had won two games up until this match and so it was a big test for us.

"A lot of questions were asked and I think we answered the lot of them. I couldn't ask any more of the players.

"There is still a lot of work to be done but at times our performance was really good.

"At times we passed the ball around them and at times we could have beaten ourselves by maybe taking too many chances.

"But for a provincial club to be doing what we are doing in the SPL is a fantastic achievement.

"I said to the boys after the game to keep our feet on the ground. If we finish one place above what we achieved last season then that's improvement and that's good enough for me.

"The only thing that was lacking was that little bit of belief but that will come as the club grows."

Despite the draw leaving Hearts also unbeaten in the SPL and at the top of the table, the hangover from their Champions League qualifying defeat in midweek by AEK Athens had suppressed Tynecastle for most of the afternoon.

A section of the Gorgie fans jeered their team off at the interval with even more angry at full-time, although the biggest display of dissatisfaction was when cult-hero Julien Brellier was replaced by Mirsad Beslija.

Hearts striker Bednar accepts his share of the blame.

He said: "Some of the supporters are unhappy but I think we did well.

"It was a difficult game but I was disappointed with myself because I wanted to help the team. We had loads of chances but we didn't score.

"I had two chances, Saulius (Mikoliunas) had two chances and Michal (Pospisil) had two chances.

"So we were just unlucky we didn't score but that's football."

Hearts head coach Valdas Ivanauskas wore the look of a condemned man as he searched for an explanation for dropping two points at home.

The Lithuanian settled for blaming the draw, in part, on Hearts' hectic start to the season which has forced the Tynecastle side into playing two games a week.

He said: "We lost two points but it's important we now have one week before our next game.

"A lot of players go away with their international teams this week and the change will be good for them."

Taken from sportinglife.com