JAMBOS' EXCUSES ARE NOT SO SMART

SO DID the Russian referee cost Hearts a £ 6million bonus? Did they get a fair "ear-ring" from the officials in Athens? Gie's peace.

Spare me the excuses that have been scattered around in the wake of the Tynecastle team's failure to reach the promised land of the Champions League.

They only obscure the real reasons Hearts were elbowed out of the qualifiers for European football's top tournament by AEK.

The Jambos were victims of their own naivety - in Edinburgh and Greece - and if they don't get seriously streetwise in the next few weeks their European dream could perish completely.

Sparta Prague are difficult opponents in the first round of the UEFA Cup and much more experienced than Hearts in continental competition.

Last season's SPL runners up will need to get smarter to survive.

The three red cards against AEK were all avoidable.

I wrote a couple of weeks ago that Bruno Aguiar got what he deserved at Murrayfield for throwing the ball away with a caution already against his name.

Hearts probably wouldn't have held on to their 1-0 lead even if they'd kept all 11 on the park but a full team would certainly have helped.

And there's no case for the defence either when you consider the two dismissals in Athens.

Whether fussy ref Yuri Baskakovand his assistants checked Julien Brellier for jewellery pre-match and gave him the all-clear is immaterial.

The fact is Brellier went out on to the pitch with an ear-ring in and don't try to tell me he wasn't well aware of the consequence of that in the event of being clocked.

His second bookable offence was equally crazy in light of his earlier yellow.

The Frenchman had been on top form before he walked and he was one player Hearts could ill afford to lose.

Any remote chance of a comeback, already trailing 2-1 from the first leg, disappeared at that point. And the tide had already turned in AEK's direction by the time the second red card was shown.

What the sending-off of Neil McCann did was create more space in the closing stages for the Greek side to rub salt in Hearts' already-nipping wounds with three late goals for a 5-1 aggregate victory.

McCann (below) might reckon his reckless lunge was worthy of only a booking.

I don't agree. It was a dangerous challenge and one he didn't have to make so far from goal.

Losing three players in the course of two European games - not to mention Robbie Neilson's red card at Ibrox last Saturday much more than a series of unfortunate accidents.

Their indiscipline severely handicapped Hearts when they needed to be as full strength as they could be.

AEK weren't great in Wednesday night's decider but the blunt truth is they didn't have to be.

The job was done at Murrayfield when Hearts rode their luck for a longtime before losing two goals at the death.

Playmaker Paul Hartley was an injured bystander for the first leg and struggling for match sharpness, naturally enough, in the return.

A fully-fit and alert Hartley would have scored with the chance that came his way in Athens rather than direct a fairly tame header at goal which was comfortably saved.

The Scotland midfielder has been rushed back with Hearts sorely short of spark.

Having barely played in the last three months he was clearly shattered in midweek. But I was still confused by the decision to take him off after an hour.

If you were going to gamble on playing him in the first place why not give him the whole game?

It was goalless when he was withdrawn and there was no way Hearts would score without him.

Equally baffling was the decision to bring on Edgaras Jankauskas in Hartley's position.

Surely the place for him was his normal role up front where he might have been able to hold the ball up and allow the depleted reinforcements to get up the pitch in support.

Youngster Jamie Mole could have dropped off into a midfield position.

And talking of young strikers, why has Calum Elliot been allowed to leave Tynecastle on loan? Maybe I'm missing something but the 19-year-old seems to me to be anything but dispensable.

Roman Bednar, raw though he his, is the best striker available to head coach Valdas Ivanauskas. Big-timer Jankauskas, when he's in the mood, is worth his place too.

Those are the only two who should be ahead of Elliot in the queue.

Michal Pospisil is a good finisher but too lightweight to be a regular scorer in the SPL. Blink and you would have missed the impact made to date by Finn Juho Makela .

The sad truth for Hearts fans at the moment is they're a weaker team than this time last year.

They need to strengthen badly and cut out the cards before sparring with Sparta.

Taken from the Sunday Mail