VALDAS SAFE EVEN IF HEARTS CZECH OUT

VALDAS IVANAUSKAS has been told his job is safe - even if Hearts crash out of Europe tonight.

Owner Vladimir Romanov has assured the head coach he is under no pressure for the immediate future.

Sources close to Romanov insist he is keen to give Ivanauskas as much time as possible in his first high-profile post.

He also wants to avoid the turmoil of last season when Hearts parted company with George Burley and Graham Rix.

Ivanauskas admitted he felt under pressure after his side's 2-0 first leg defeat in the UEFA Cup to Sparta Prague.

But he has since steadied the ship and Hearts go into tonight's return buoyed by three away wins on the trot.

Romanov could not resist a pre-match dig at his Czech rivals ahead of tonight's clash.

He again accused them of adopting roughhouse tactics and called on tonight's German officials to succeed where Italian Paolo Bertini failed a fortnight ago.

Romanov said: "In the first leg there were lots of crude physical attacks against our players. It was a highly professional referee but, even so, he didn't spot some of those attacks.

"I hope Sparta won't have a chance to use the same tactics this time."

But Sparta Prague boss Michal Bilek shrugged it all off.

He said: "We knew before the first leg Hearts were a tough team and if we wanted to succeed we needed to be equally tough. It was a hard game but it was f air."

Taken from the Daily Record