| Report Index--> 2006-07--> All for 20060823 | ||||
| <-Page | <-Team | Wed 23 Aug 2006 AEK Athens 3 Hearts 0 | Team-> | Page-> |
| <-Srce | <-Type | Herald ------ Report | Type-> | Srce-> |
| Valdas Ivanauskas | <-auth | Rob Robertson | auth-> | Iouri Baskakov |
| Brellier Julien | McCann Neil | [J Souza pen 79] ;[N Liberopoulos 82] ;[J Souza 85] | ||
| 47 | of 059 | ----- | E | A |
Hearts join the chase for RajcziROB ROBERTSON August 25 2006 HEARTS will turn their attention to today's UEFA Cup draw and are in the hunt for a new striker to help them progress in the competition. Hungarian Peter Rajczi, who is out of contract at FC Ujpest, has been interesting the Tynecastle club which has been hit by recent injuries to Edgaras Jankauskas, Michal Pospisil and Roman Bednar. Dynamo Kiev, Brondby, Watford, Crystal Palace and Leeds United have also expressed interest in Rajczi, according to reports from the continent. The question remains whether the current Hearts side are strong enough to make an impact in the UEFA Cup, in which they are not seeded, while at the same time continuing their hopes of winning the Bank of Scotland Premierleague title. After AEK Athens put them out of the Champions League in the qualifiers on Wednesday, their new goal is to win their first UEFA Cup match and make the group stages of the competition but it is clearly a consolation prize for club owner Vladimir Romanov who had his eyes set on the Champions League and the £6m cash windfall that would bring. Despite all the fuss over the dismissal of Julien Brellier and his first yellow card over in Athens which was for wearing an earring, there was a gulf in class between Hearts and the Greek side which was illustrated by the 5-1 aggregate score. Although Romanov has given his manager Valdas Ivanauskas the dreaded vote of confidence, anything less than a victory over Inverness Caledonian Thistle on Saturday will lead to more questions being asked about his future. Craig Gordon, the Hearts goalkeeper, said it was the manner of their defeat against AEK Athens which had bothered the players but they had to put the disappointment them. "I don't think there is much of a debate over who was the better team over the two legs but it was the way certain decisions went against us that has angered everybody at Hearts," said Gordon. Steven Pressley, the Hearts captain, believes the club can make an impact in the UEFA Cup particularly when they get all their injured players back. Pressley said his side liked to take games to their opponents and expected a similar positive approach in future European matches. "We are an aggressive team and if we lose that edge then we certainly won't play in the same fashion," said Pressley. "I think it's important that we keep the aggressive side of things. "Against AEK Athens we played some excellent counter-attacking football. That's the style we need to play to be successful in the UEFA Cup."  Taken from the Herald |
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