Bednar believes Beslija can make impact against Czechs

HEARTS striker Roman Bednar has backed winger Mirsad Beslija to come in from the cold in tomorrow's UEFA Cup meeting with Sparta Prague at a time of urgent need for the Tynecastle club.

Manager Valdas Ivanauskas's preparations have been shaken by a midfield selection crisis, with Saulius Mikoliunas, Neil McCann and Julien Brellier all suspended for the Murrayfield tie. To add to the problems in this department are the injury doubts concerning Bruno Aguiar, Andrew Driver and Deividas Cesnauskis.

Record club signing Beslija has been a source of frustration for Hearts fans, with reports of his lightning-quick speed unable to be verified due to precious few sightings. The player, signed from Racing Genk in January, has not started a match this season, but replaced Mikoliunas in the last few minutes of Saturday's defeat by St Mirren. He comes into the reckoning for tomorrow night's match as much by accident as design, but Bednar is confident he can flourish if given a rare opportunity.

"I think he is a very good player," said Bednar. "He can take his chance now. I think he just needs the gaffer to believe in him, give him not just 20 minutes but five or so full matches. I have seen him play fantastic in training. I think he just needs a chance because he hasn't had that yet. But I am not the gaffer."

Bednar has his own concerns, and he has vowed to deliver a performance that will make up for the red card he received after the final whistle on Saturday. He misses this weekend's match with Motherwell due to suspension, but hopes to sign off with a goal against the side he supported growing up in Prague.

"My red card was very stupid," he said. " "I just said what I felt, although I am disappointed in myself now. My answer to it is to try and score a goal on Thursday. I want to show I am a good player and that it was just one mistake."

Hearts can ill afford such mistakes tomorrow, with many of their selection problems stemming from innocuous incidents that have been severely penalised, such as Aguiar's red card for a second bookable offence that simply involved the throwing away of the ball against AEK Athens at Murrayfield.

"We have talked about this with Steven [Pressley] and the gaffer," Bednar said. "It is not as if we have been tackling hard and breaking legs. They have just been little things, and we need to be more professional."

Taken from the Scotsman