Hat-trick hero Makela not certain to retain Hearts place

ALMOST everything went according to plan for Valdas Ivanauskas and Hearts last night as they cruised into the quarter-finals of the CIS Cup with a 4-0 victory at Alloa Athletic.

Juho Makela scored a hat-trick - though that may not be enough for him to keep his place against Aberdeen on Sunday - and Bruno Aguiar added a fourth late on.

"I said yesterday if the players work hard and we score goals it's an easy game," the coach said. "I was happy with how seriously the players understood the situation. It's a good result. We scored some goals and made some more chances, but now we just want to forget about the game and begin to think about Sunday."

The only real down side of the evening for Hearts was injuries to two players. Mirsad Beslija dislocated his jaw and will be x-rayed today to find out if a bone has been broken, while Christos Karipidis twisted a knee and will also require assessment.

As for Makela, Ivanauskas declined to comment when asked if a hat-trick was enough to keep him in the team. "Juho did well, but we have four days," he said.

Alloa coach Allan Maitland felt they should not have ended a man down after Chris Townsley was dismissed for picking up two yellow cards.

"It's hard enough playing against a Premier team without getting a man sent off. I didn't think Charlie [Richmond, the referee] had to do it."

Taken from the Scotsman