Hearts fail to overturn deficit as chances go begging

Jamie Mole, the Hearts youngster, missed a great chance three minutes after the interval and with that went the Gorgie side’s chances of making the group stages.

Hearts started positively enough, led by Steven Pressley, the captain — who equalled Gorgie goalkeeping legend Henry Smith’s record of 22 appearances in Europe for the Edinburgh side. But the Tynecastle side rode their luck in the sixth minute when Hartley, the midfield player, was handily placed on the line to clear a close-range effort by Zdenek Pospech, the Sparta defender, after the home side’s third corner in a row.

Moments later, Jan Simak, the Sparta striker, hit a snap-shot from 30 yards that whistled past Craig Gordon’s left-hand post. Then, as the home side turned the screw, Daniel Kolar drilled a shot from the edge of the area that deflected off Lee Wallace and crashed off the bar before eventually being cleared.

On 30 minutes, Tomas Sivok, the Sparta midfield player, missed a great chance to make the tie safe when, unmarked at the back post, he managed to head wide an in swinging corner from Simak.

Hearts wasted a great chance to score the opening goal just three minutes after the restart. A Hartley header found Pinilla bearing down on goal and, with the Sparta defence exposed, the Chilean laid the ball off to Mole. The youngster only had the goalkeeper to beat from 16 yards but drove the ball straight at him, allowing Blazek to parry the ball behind for a corner.

No Scottish side has overturned a deficit in Europe after a home defeat in the first-leg and Hearts, despite a valiant attempt, joined the long list of disappointments.

SPARTA PRAGUE: Blazek, Pospech, Repka, Homola, Kadlec, Kisel, Ludovic, Sivok, Kolar, Simak, Dosek. Substitutes: Grigar, Hasek, Drobny, Zabavnik, Jun, Matusovic, Lustrinelli.

HEART OF MIDLOTHIAN: Gordon, Neilson, Pressley, Berra, Wallace, Mikoliunas, Brellier, Hartley, Cesnauskis, Mole, Pinilla. Substitutes: Banks, Tall, Aguiar, Bednar, Beslija, Makela, Lithgow.

Referee: P Sippel (Germany).

Taken from timesonline.co.uk