JAMBO JOY AS BEDNAR PENS 4-YEAR DEAL

HEARTS last night secured striker Roman Bednar on a four-year deal after making his loan move from FBK Kaunas permanent.

Vladimir Romanov failed to spend big on new faces as the transfer window closed - despite claiming earlier in the summer he was ready to move for two World Cup stars.

He attempted to soften the blow of his failure to sign a new, bigname player by officially making Bednar a Hearts player.

The striker had been on loan from Kaunas since last summer, joining the Lithuanian outfit from Mlada Boleslav before immediately being moved to Tynecastle.

Bednar, 23, has scored four goals this season and recently won his first call-up to the Czech national team.

He said: "I've never hidden the fact I love playing with Hearts. I want to be a winner with Hearts domestically and on the European stage and that's why I've signed."

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Romanov claimed he'd spend up to £10million on a single player if it helped Hearts but despite bringing in six new players he splashed out only £200,000 in transfer fees this summer - for Greek defender Hristos Karipidis who joined from PAOK Salonika.

Meanwhile, Hearts UEFA Cup opponents Sparta Prague have sacked Stanislav Griga despite the manager guiding his side to a 5-2 Czech Cup win against Dvur Kralove on Wednesday. The 45-year-old paid the price for poor league form this season.

Sparta have won only two of their first five matches and are five points behind early leaders Mlada Boleslav who beat them 3-0 at the weekend.

Hearts face the Czechs in Edinburgh on September 14 with the return clash two weeks later.

Sparta, who are ninth in the table, hope to name Griga's successor today but will play just one league game, against FC Tescoma Zlin, before they travel to Scotland.

Griga was appointed last October and Sparta finished fifth in the league last season.

Hearts have been boosted by the news Christophe Berra and Michal Pospisil will be back from injury in time for the SPL meeting with St Mirren next weekend.

Taken from the Daily Record