IVANAUSKAS FEELING THE HEAT

Hearts head coach Valdas Ivanauskas insists he is still under pressure despite successive victories in the last week.

A Bank of Scotland Premier League win at Motherwell and thrashing of Alloa in the CIS Cup has given the Lithuanian some breathing space after a sequence of poor results, including their UEFA Cup first round, first leg defeat to Sparta Prague.

Ivanauskas has not been afforded time to enjoy their recent results, however, and is now preparing his side for a difficult trip to Aberdeen on Sunday to take on Jimmy Calderwood's in-form team.

He said: "It was good to get those two results - they were very important games for us. It was important how we played in these games.

"But everyone knows how difficult Sunday is going to be. It was a difficult situation prior to the two recent games and the pressure is not over yet.

"We need to continue working hard.

"Aberdeen is the first game after these two games but we know it is going to be difficult."

The forthcoming week is sure to prove stressful for Ivanauskas, with the return match against Sparta Prague on Thursday.

Hearts are two goals down from the first leg and Ivanauskas admits it's imperative they keep their momentum going at Pittodrie.

He added: "It's important, it's very important we do well against Aberdeen because the first game against Sparta was very, very bad.

"Sunday is a very hard game but, if we have a positive result and performance, it will be good for the players ahead of the Prague game.

"We can play better, there is no question about that.

"I hope that is our worst game, and the players also understand that we can't play like that again.

"It was a very bad game but every game is difficult.

"We don't have to think about the Prague game just now though, we need to think about the Aberdeen game first."

After making 11 changes for their third-round CIS Cup win over Alloa on Wednesday, Ivanauskas insists his squad's Scotland internationals will return for the Dons clash.

He added: "Automatically, the likes of Steven Pressley, Craig Gordon and Paul Hartley come back in.

"It was good for them to get a rest because we have an important week coming up."

Taken from sportinglife.com