HEARTS SLIP UP

Hearts head coach Valdas Ivanauskas insists the rain-sodden pitch at Murrayfield contributed to his side's 2-0 defeat by Sparta Prague in their UEFA Cup first-round first-leg tie.

The heavens opened above Edinburgh for most of the afternoon, turning the pitch into a lottery.

Passing was almost impossible at times. But the visitors adapted better, and a Daniel Kolar goal after 34 minutes gave the Czech side a deserved interval lead.

The Tynecastle men struggled, and at times only Jambos goalkeeper Craig Gordon held the visitors at bay.

However, in the 71st minute Gordon had no chance when Sparta substitute Miroslav Matusovic fired in number two from the edge of the penalty area to seal a comfortable win.

Asked if the pitch worked against Hearts, Ivanauskas said: "That is right - the pitch was a big factor.

"We have a very technical and a very good team. But it was not possible to play normal football on that pitch for the first 20 minutes.

"So we tried to play long balls and win the second ball. But Prague were very clever, and the defence worked very hard and aggressively - so we had no chances.

"It was not easy from the first minute."

After crashing out of the Champions League qualifiers last month to AEK Athens, this time Hearts arguably turned in their worst performance of the season so far.

Lithuanian Ivanauskas insists nonetheless that his side still have a chance of going through into the group stages.

He said: "I am confident - I've got to be confident.

"We have not been able to play the football we played last year.

"We have had big injury problems, and I have not been able to get my full squad together. But if all the players are fit and available then we have a strong squad."

Sparta Prague coach Michal Bilek refused to admit the second leg in Prague is now a foregone conclusion.

He said: "We played well and were able to make a lot of chances - and we didn't allow Hearts to play.

"It was a good result for us, but the second leg will also be difficult."

Taken from sportinglife.com