Jankauskas to miss Scotland qualifier

EDGARAS Jankauskas has been ruled out of Lithuania's Euro 2008 qualifier against Scotland next week because of injury. The Hearts striker, who has been struggling to shake off a thigh strain, is also expected to miss both legs of his club's forthcoming UEFA Cup tie against Sparta Prague.

"I really wanted to play for Lithuania, but the recurrence of this old injury has stopped me," said Jankauskas after undergoing medical tests at his national team's training camp. "I will be out for at least a month."

The 31-year-old was not in the squad for Hearts' victory over Inverness Caley Thistle at the weekend, and could only come off the bench against AEK Athens last week. With the games against Sparta Prague coming on 14 and 28 September, that match in the Greek capital will be his last in European club competition this season unless Hearts win through to the group stages of the UEFA Cup.

Even with Jankauskas's absence Hearts still have three players in the Lithuanian squad for their double-header, which begins in Naples against Italy on Saturday. Deividas Cesnauskis is the most likely to start against the Italians, while Saulius Mikoliunas and Marius Zaliukas also hope to be involved.

Meanwhile, the Tynecastle club's contingent of players from the Baltic country increased to seven yesterday with the loan signings of Andrius Velicka and Kestutis Ivaskevicius - the septet is completed by Nerijus Barasa, who is out injured at present. In common with their compatriots and several other players on Hearts' books, Velicka and Ivaskevicius have signed on loan from Kaunas.

"We know a fair bit about Velicka anyway, because he's been training with us a few times in recent weeks," said Hearts' assistant coach, John McGlynn. "Ivaskevicius trained yesterday and we look forward to getting both boys involved."

Both new signings turned out for Hearts as trialists in the pre-season friendly at Murrayfield against Osasuna, as did Zaliukas. Velicka, a 27-year-old striker, scored one of the goals in the Edinburgh team's 2-0 win over the Spaniards. Ivaskevicius, six years younger, is a winger.

While most of Hearts' foreign stars are loan signings, the club has made steady progress in securing some of their most promising Scottish players on long-term deals, and that progress continued yesterday when Andrew Driver signed a five-year contract. The 18-year-old winger, who has joined Lee Wallace, Christophe Berra and Calum Elliot in signing on at Tynecastle until 2011, had two years of his present deal to run but has now extended that by three years.

"I know I've got that security for the next five years now and I'm happy about it," said Driver, who scored on his home debut against Inverness Caley Thistle last Saturday. "I was just delighted to get it signed, really. I wanted to put it behind me and get on with doing well here."

Negotiations over a new deal stalled some weeks ago, and Driver, who had been getting into first-team squads, found himself being left out in the cold. His reinstatement on Saturday was a sure sign that a formal agreement was imminent.

"They've said I've got a good chance and that if I prove myself they will try me out," Driver added. "I'm here for a long time so I'm looking forward to the challenge."

Taken from the Scotsman