Ivanauskas endures Murrayfield heartache

The head coach knows that the Edinburgh club’s capricious owner, Vladimir Romanov, has little patience and after Hearts were outclassed last night at Murrayfield by the highly mobile Czechs in the same fashion as they were by AEK Athens in the Champions League third qualifying round three weeks ago, Ivanauskas must now fear he will go the way of George Burley and Graham Rix, who were both sacked last season.

Spectacular finishes from Daniel Kolar and Miroslav Matusovic overcame the heroics of Craig Gordon, the Scotland goalkeeper, to virtually end the first-round tie as a contest after the first leg. After working so hard to get into Europe last term, Hearts have now thrown it away before autumn has arrived.

Torrential rain had deluged Edinburgh before kick-off but the gloom was pierced by the spectacular pre-match firework show. The only problem was that the smoke hung in the damp air and shrouded the pitch in a fog worthy of Victorian London. The pitch was barely playable. Both teams found the ball sticking in puddles and swiftly opted to over-compensate when hitting every pass, short or long. As a result it took over 20 minutes before either side found any fluency.

Injury problems meant that Mirsad Beslija was given a rare start. The Bosnia and Herzegovina player became the club’s record signing when he arrived from Racing Genk last January for £850,000 but his meagre amount of appearances had forced him recently to ask to move away. Beslija certainly displayed a hunger in the first half and his pace looked capable of causing Sparta problems on the slippy surface.

Though Sparta have a fine Champions League pedigree, their raison d’être is to sell players. Too many have left in recent seasons, including Roman Bednar, the Hearts striker, and that has seen standards slip to the extent that they are slumming it in the Uefa Cup this season.

However, Libor Dosek showed he possessed genuine threat when he displayed fine control just before the half-hour to clip a shot that was deflected just wide of the post. Then Ludovic Sylvestre burst into the box and drew an excellent save from Gordon as the goalkeeper touched the fierce drive over the bar.

So, it was little surprise when Sparta seized their opportunity at the third time of asking. A flowing 33rd-minute move, with Michael Kadlec at the core, eventually found Kolar on the edge of the box and he spun before thrashing his shot beyond Gordon.

Jiri Homola ought to have doubled Sparta’s advantage in the 41st minute but headed Jan Simak’s corner over from point-blank range. Hearts’ only threat came when Bednar met Hartley’s corner but Jaromir Blazek held the header.

Hearts offered little evidence in the second half that they could turn the contest their way. Indeed, any threat there was came from Sparta, who broke at pace and created a succession of shooting chances.

Hartley tried to release Beslija on the hour but Blazek spotted the danger and saved at the midfield player’s feet. Then Bednar cut in from the left and fired a rising shot that flew wide. It was, though, a brief interlude. Gordon’s goal held a magnetic attraction for Sparta and even Matusovic, the substitute, joined in the siege. He found space inside the box to gather Dosek’s pass but dragged his shot wide.

Hearts were truly indebted to Gordon when the Scotland goalkeeper pulled off a remarkable triple save in the 69th minute. Kolar’s run down the left carved Hearts open and his cutback was met firmly by Dosek only for Gordon to block the shot with his feet. Sylvestre thumped in the rebound but this time Gordon parried it and when the ball finally fell to Matusovic, with the goal at his mercy just six yards out, Gordon somehow diverted the ball past the post.

However, not even Gordon could deny Matusovic two minutes later. The substitute cut in from the left, past Lee Wallace, and clubbed a left-foot finish from 25 yards that skidded low past the goalkeeper’s leap. The resistance visibly drained from Ivanauskas’s players. Not so, the spectators. Some Hearts fans were removed from the ground by police after a dispute.

HEART OF MIDLOTHIAN (4-4-2): C Gordon — R Neilson, S Pressley, C Berra, L Wallace — M Beslija (sub: I Tall, 63), B Aguiar, P Hartley, J Mole — R Bednar, M Pinilla (sub: D Cesnauskis, 63). Substitutes not used: S Banks, T Fyssas, J Makela, C Karipidis, M Park. Booked: Aguiar.

SPARTA PRAGUE (4-1-4-1): J Blazek — Z Pospech, J Homola, T Repka, M Kadelec — K Kisel — T Sivok, J Simak (sub: M Matusovic, 63), L Sylvestre (sub: M Lustrinelli, 85), D Kolar (sub: M Hasek, 75) — L Dosek. Substitutes not used: T Grigar, V Drobny, R Zabavnik, T Jun. Booked: Simak, Homola, Kadlec.

Referee: P Bertini (Italy).

Taken from timesonline.co.uk