REPEAT WOULD BE SO SWEET

HEARTS boss Valdas Ivanauskas has warned Scotland to beware o f history repeating itself ahead of the Euro crunch against Lithuania.

The Baltic nation stunned football at the weekend when they held world champions Italy to a 1-1 draw in Naples in their opening Group B match of the European Championship qualifying campaign.

Ivanauskas reckons it was the best result in the Lithuania team's history since they held Germany to a 1-1 draw in Gelsenkirchen on the road to Euro 2004.

Spookily, they followed that up four days later with a game against Scotland in Kaunas - and midfielder Tomas Razanauskas, who had scored against the Ge rmans in the Arena Aufschalke, netted the winner from the spot in a 1-0 win against Berti Vogts' side.

Former Lithuanian No.2 Ivanauskas laughed off claims he's a spy in the camp after he took in our 6-0 defeat of the Faroes at Parkhead on Saturday afternoon.

In fact, he won't even travel for the game in Kaunas on Wednesday as he's too busy preparing for Hearts' SPL clash against St Mirren at Tynecastle three days later.

But he admits to raising an eyebrow to events over four days in March and April 2003 as news broke of his compatriots' fantastic achievements on Saturday night.

Ivanauskas said: "The 1-1 draw against Italy was a wonderful result and the best our national team has experienced since the 1-1 draw against Germany over three years ago.

"It was also a very emotional occasion and it's interesting that four days after we played that game we then took on Scotland, also in Kaunas, and won 1-0.

"But then, of course, I also remember a game later that year against Scotland at Hampden, which was also very important, and this time we lost 1-0.

"There's no doubt there has been a fantastic reaction back home to our result in Italy.

"I've spoken to friends and read Lithuanian websites and everyone is very happy.

"Ours is a small country and this big result is good for Lithuania - in fact, the fans even turned up at the airport at 5am to welcome the team back home.

"It would have been no shame to lose to Italy but it will be interesting to see if there is now a positive psychological effect on our players when they play Scotland.

"If you asked 100 people about our chances against Italy, 99 would have said we could not take a point but I always believed we had a small chance as our team is good.

"It's not easy to play against Lithuania as they have a lot of good, quality players and a good spirit about the squad as well.

They concentrated well in front of 80,000 fans and it was good to see Deividas Cesnauskis and Saul Mikoliunas involved.

"The game on Wednesday is going to be very interesting and I don't reckon there are any favourites - it's 50-50.

"I don't think there will be many chances for either side to score goals as both teams are very clever with disciplined and experienced players."

Ivanauskas enjoyed a chuckle when told a picture of his face had been superimposed on the body of Sean Connery as 007 in one Sunday newspaper.

He insists he was at Celtic Park with his Hearts manager's hat on and not as a Lithuanian patriot.

Besides, Lithuanian boss Algimantas Liubinskas has enough moles, with Hearts stars such asMikoliunas, Cesnauskis and Marius Zaliukas in his squad.

Ivanauskas added: "I won't be going to the game and will watch it at home on television here.

"The game against St Mirren is very important to us and I will focus on training with the Hearts players here this week.

"Algimantas did not ask me to go to watch the Scotland game on Saturday and I have not spoken to him yet, although I s e n t him a message t o congratulate him on the team's result and performance in Naples. Generally, he does not need me for information on the Scotland team.

"Also, I don't need to give it because the Lithuanian players themselves, such as Saul and Deividas, know enough about the Scots."

Ivanauskas admits he was impressed with the Scots at Celtic Park as he knows how stuffy the Faroes can be at this level.

Lithuania played them twice in the last European Championship qualifiers and although they won both matches - 2-0 at home and 3-1 away - the scores hardly suggest walkovers.

Ivanauskas added: "I really enjoyed Saturday's game. It's very simple to say the game was easy and straightforward but I know it's never the case against the Faroes.

"If you don't score a quick goal or two they can make it difficult.

"Scotland did very well and showed good concentration and discipline to score two goals early on and build on it.

"Walter Smith put out his team with good tactics and I was interested to see the new, deeper role Paul Hartley was given as it allowed him more freedom in the game and contact with the ball.

"It was also important to see Paul play a full game but it was vital for me to see how all our Hearts players performed.

"Elvis (Steven Pressley) and Craig (Gordon) were also involved and it was good for Scotland to score so many goals in their first match.

"They also showed good spirit and professionalism to secure such a result.

"It's definitely going to be a very interesting match on Wednesday night."

Taken from the Daily Record