Tall is ready to win Hearts

IBRAHIM TALL'S introduction to the fray at Murrayfield on Thursday night may have been greeted by a chorus of boos from the Hearts supporters, but the defender is desperate to be back in the firing line at Fir Park tomorrow.

The Senegalese came on as a second-half substitute for the club's record signing Mirsad Beslija - a decision which obviously didn't impress the 27,451 supporters - although their displeasure was not so much aimed at the defender himself but at the surprising choice of player to make way.

Beslija has featured just six times on league business and twice in Europe for the Tynecastle outfit since signing from Belgian side Genk for £800,000 eight months ago but was one of their better performers on a night when next to nothing went right.

At the same time Mauricio Pinilla was hooked, another departure that angered the crowd and he stormed straight down the tunnel, shaking his head after being replaced by Deividas Cesnauskis.

Tall could understand the supporters' frustrations but is hoping that he can help win them round by earning the Jambos their first victory in three games when they face Motherwell on their own patch tomorrow.

The Fir Park side haven't had the best of starts to their league campaign, picking up just three points from their opening six games and scoring just twice on their home patch in that time, losing eight in reply.

Tall is keen to pile on the misery for the Fir Park backroom staff of Maurice Malpas and co and ease the pain of the defeat to Sparta in the process.

"I think that it is good for the team that we have the game against Motherwell so quickly after this one," said Tall.

"It is a good chance for us to bounce back with a victory and I think that if we can get a couple of wins before the second leg then that will give us a lot of confidence.

"The last time that we played them at Fir Park we drew 1-1 with them so we know that we will have to work very hard to get the right result but we have got a good squad and we know that we have the players to go there and be confident. We lost our last game against St Mirren but if we can beat Motherwell then we will still be in a good position in the league table."

Tall stepped off the bench for the final 27 minutes of the match at Murrayfield, his first competitive action since picking up an injury in the first leg of the Champions League qualifier against AEK Athens, and straight onto the sodden pitch with his side already trailing by a goal.

He knew what was required, as he was on the scoresheet at Murrayfield against the Bosnians of Siroki Brijeg in a Champions League qualifier.

Having been ruled out of action over the past few weeks, it might not have been the best set of circumstances to choose to return in, but he added: "I feel that I am back to full fitness now, I came on against Sparta and felt fine and I am hoping I can be involved against Motherwell.

"I know that I can still play better, but that only comes with more games, hopefully I can become more involved over the next few weeks."

Goals from Daniel Kolar and substitute Miroslav Matusovic in Thursday night's 2-0 defeat leave the Tynecastle side with a mountain to climb in Prague in a fortnight if they are to again reach the group stages of the UEFA Cup but Tall if refusing to give up hope that they can overturn that deficit.

He added: "Sparta are a good team and before they came over the gaffer told us that they are a very strong side and what to expect from them but it was still a bad result for us to lose two goals in the home leg of the tie and the supporters were not very happy.

"It was a very disappointing night for everyone, but I think that it is not finished yet and we have to believe that.

"There are still another 90 minutes to be played and we have to go over there and believe that we can get the score that we need to go over there a win through to the group stages. It is a difficult situation to find ourselves in, but I am sure that everyone at the club will work as hard as they can to make sure that we get there."

If Hearts can engineer a miracle recovery in the Toyota Arena a week on Thursday and book a place in the group stage it will mean trying to perform a difficult juggling act between their performances in the SPL and in Europe.

However with a sizeable squad at his disposal, Tall believes that head coach Valdas Ivanauskas has the tools to make an impression in both competitions. The Jambos have lost their last two games, one in each of those competitions, against St Mirren and of course the defeat to Sparta which will still be fresh in the players' minds come kick-off at Fir Park tomorrow afternoon.

Tall added: "We lost against St Mirren and then against Sparta but we have to remember that they are two different competitions.

"It is important that we get the right results in the in the SPL, last Saturday's result was a bad one for us and we want to make sure that we get a few more points at Fir Park tomorrow.

"I think that we can do well in both competitions, it will be difficult for us now, but we have a lot of good players and we know that we can play a lot better than we did against Sparta. I don't know what the problem was. We had a few chances but we could not score.

"Everyone was disappointed because it was a very bad result but we have a lot of good players and we have to believe that we can get the right result in Prague and go on to have another good season in the SPL too."

Taken from the Scotsman