WE WON'T LET NINE MONTHS HARD GRAFT GO DOWN THE TUBES IN JUST EIGHT WEEKS

HEARTS star Paul Hartley sweated blood and tears over nine months to savour the best season of his career.

He is damned if he will let his good work go to waste within eight weeks of a new campaign.

Hearts take on Sparta Prague in the first leg of the UEFA Cup at Murrayfield tonight and if the Scotland midfielder has his way they will still be battling it out in Europe after Christmas.

The Scottish Cup winners blared out the theme tune to the Champions League over the PA system at Tynecastle back in May as they celebrated clinching second spot in the SPL with a Hartley penalty against Aberdeen.

AEK Athens ensured the St Martin's in the Field choir, backed by the Royal Philharmonic orchestra, will not be duetting with Hector Nicol, the voice behind The Hearts Song, any time soon after a 5-1 aggregate win in the qualifying round.

Now the group stage of UEFA's second tier competition beckons - as long as Hearts can see off the challenge from the Czech Republic.

Hartley said: "The thought of losing out drives us on. We put a lot of hard work into last season and we don't want to let it go in the first two months of this campaign by being knocked out of two European competitions.

"It's all there for us and we've got to be focused and determined to get to the UEFA Cup group stage.

"We want to be playing European football after Christmas. The incentive is to make the group stage because we want to experience more of these nights at Murrayfield.

"It will be difficult to get through but a couple of years ago we beat Braga here before going on to draw 2-2 in Portugal to qualify for the group stage.

"It'll be very important to win through - not just for the players but from a revenue point of view as well.

"I know the difficulties involved in playing European football in midweek and coming back to play SPL matches. It takes its toll but we want to progress in every competition we enter."

There was a running joke around Murrayfield late yesterday afternoon as Sparta arrived for training - a team that plays in maroon, who have just sacked their boss and seem permanently engulfed in controversy. Remind you of anyone? But while Hartley smiled at the alleged similarities between the teams he was deadly serious as he discussed an action plan to pile on the woe for the Czechs.

He knows they are vulnerable, even though new coach Michal Bilek led them to a 2-0 victory over Tescoma Zlin in his first game in charge at the weekend.

However, they were not especially impressive and it needed a double from sub Libor Dosek to hand them only their third victory in six games.

Hartley, 29, reckons his side can exploit their nervousness, but even if an early goal doesn't arrive he is urging the 25,000 fans who are expected at Murrayfield to keep the head.

Hartley added: "Sparta will come into this game with a bit of confidence after winning at the weekend and we know they're a dangerous side because they have Champions League experience.

"They have excellent players in Thomas Repka and Michal Kadlec, who was interesting Celtic, and we've got to guard against them sitting in and hitting on the counter.

"I've already spoken to Roman Bednar and Michal Pospisil and they've underlined that Sparta are a good side.

"It's also important we make a good start to the game if they are nervous and we've got to get on the front foot, put them under pressure early on and try to test their keeper.

"There's not quite the same atmosphere at Murrayfield as Tynecastle, so our crowd has a big part to play and must be patient. The onus is on us to attack and if we can score and keep a clean sheet it would be ideal to take to Prague."

Hartley missed most of Jambos' pre-season with a groin injury, but has played three games within the last 10 days, including starring roles for Scotland against the Faroe Islands and Lithuania.

He played his first 90 minutes for his club in their 1-0 defeat against St Mirren and admits there is still more to come from him and his team in the weeks ahead.

He added: "I'm still only between 80-90 per cent fit. I'm not yet fully match fit but the three games recently have been good for me. The more I play the fitter I'll become.

"As a side, we haven't played as well as we can this season and there's still a lot more to come. We were especially disappointed to lose to St Mirren on Saturday but it still hasn't been a bad start.

"We've yet to reach our peak and haven't started this season as well as we did last, but injuries and suspensions have played a part. There's more to come from us and I'm sure we'll be a force again this season."

Mind you, Hartley also conceded some of his side's problems this season have been self-inflicted, with five players sent off already at home and abroad.

Hearts had three players dismissed over two legs against AEK Athens alone and he admits their disciplinemust improve if they are to achieve the targets they have set in the SPL and UEFA Cup.

He said: "We've had a lot of red cards but other teams go through similar spells.

"You must be passionate but we know bookings can cost you as we have three out of four players missing from our midfield for this game.

"But the players who will come in must use this as an opportunity to prove to the manager what they can do for the team."

Taken from the Daily Record