LEVEIN WANTS CALUM TO BRING PRIDE AND JOY

CRAIG LEVEIN is hoping his protege Calum Elliot will do him proud in Athens tonight.

The former Hearts manager has followed the young striker's career with interest since he persuaded the kid to sign for the Jambos when it appeared he was moving to England. Levein said: "I signed Calum when he was a 15 or 16-year-old coming through the Hearts youth system. At the time it looked as if he was going to sign for Middlesbrough but John Murray and I managed to convince him it was best for him to sign for Hearts which luckily he did.

"He has come on really well but Hearts have always had a decent youth system and he is another one who has come through the ranks.

"I have read that Calum is probably going to go out on loan somewhere and that is no bad thing.

"If he is not going to be playing regular first-team football for Hearts then I believe he's at an age when he needs to be playing regularly. If Hearts don't plan playing him in a regular basis going on out on loan seems to be the right thing to do.

"But if he gets his chance against AEK he'll want to do as well as possible.

"It's a big task but I would not write Hearts off. I hope there is a bit of complacency on the part of AEK.

"They will probably think the job is done and that is something Hearts can use in their favour.

"What Hearts really need to do is score goals. Going there and keeping it tight is no good to them. They have to throw caution to the wind without being stupid about it. They must take a chance to try to get themselves in front in the match.

"If they can do that, they only need one more goal."

Levein believes the volatile AEK fans could also give Hearts a helping hand if the game is not going their way.

He said: "Their fans will be thinking because AEK won 2-1 away from home that it's going to be a rout, that they should win by three or four.

"They won't have a lot of patience and hopefully Hearts can use that."

Taken from the Daily Record