Ivanauskas defiant but knows job is on the line

VALDAS IVANAUSKAS will fight on as head coach of Hearts despite increasing pressure as a result of last night's 2-0 UEFA Cup defeat by Sparta Prague.

The Lithuanian was back on the training pitches of Riccarton this morning to begin preparing for Sunday's SPL trip to Motherwell and insists that he will continue in his job until majority shareholder Vladimir Romanov tells him otherwise.

"My future is not a discussion for me, it is a question for other people," he said. "I will be taking training as normal.

"It's not going to be easy, but we now have to be ready for a very hard and difficult game on Sunday.

"I need to be confident because if I am not confident it is not good for the team."

Ivanauskas saw his side outplayed by Sparta at Murrayfield in the first leg of the UEFA Cup first round, losing goals to Daniel Kolar in the first half and Miroslav Matusovic in the second.

Consequently, a monumental task lies in wait for Hearts in the Czech Republic on the 28th of this month if they are to prolong their European involvement into the UEFA Cup group stages.

Injuries and suspensions denied Ivanauskas a number of his first-team regulars including Edgaras Jankauskas, Julien Brellier and Neil McCann. Yet he still lamented his team's inability to impose themselves upon the proceedings.

"We have no results and we are not playing the football of last season," added Ivanauskas.

"We waited for this game to come round. Everyone in the club was waiting for it.

"After losing it it's very difficult to take. We also have big problems with injuries. I can't take my full team for a game.

"Every game we have players injured or suspended and I never have a full squad for two or three games running.

"It is always a big disappointment if you lose such an important game but, if all players are fit then my team is very strong."

The head coach has denied getting his tactical judgement wrong after supporters roundly booed his substituting of winger Mirsad Beslija and striker Mauricio Pinilla.

He went on: "It was a big pitch and the atmosphere was great. The fans tried to push the team but the pitch was not in good condition.

"Sometimes the big pitch can be better for the team defending, but it is the same situation for both teams.

"The rain was a big factor. After the warm-up we came in and realised that it would not be possible to play much football in the first twenty minutes.

"We have a lot of good, technical players but we had to play a lot of long balls and try to win second balls.

"The Prague team are very clever and their defence was very hard and aggressive. They didn't allow us any chances and they didn't allow us to play football. The longer a game goes on the more confidence an away team gets and they punished us."

Sparta Prague coach Michal Bilek was unsurprisingly delighted with the result, but was wary of his players becoming complacent ahead of the return leg: "I think we played very well and we were the better team. We didn't allow Hearts to play against us.

"We wanted to combine as a team and keep the ball, and I think we won because we did this better than Hearts.

"We think that the next match will also be difficult.

"The result was very good, but we will have to play extremely well in the return game. We would like to win that one also."

Taken from the Scotsman