Return of the feel-good factor

A POINT at Rugby Park on Saturday was no disaster from a Hearts perspective, Aberdeen's defeat at Tannadice and Rangers' inability to dispense with lowly St Mirren emphasising the prospects of a second-place finish for the Edinburgh club.

However, such achievements aren't realised without genuine endeavour on a weekly basis, and in that respect young Andy Driver is completely in tune with the thinking of Valdas Ivanauskas, his head coach.
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Since returning from an enforced month-long absence at the end of November, Ivanauskas has dispensed with the wheelbarrow races of Eduard Malofeev and put in place a sound work ethic to guide Hearts on an upward trajectory and back into a challenging position for possible Champions League football.

The renewed vigour has been a welcome sight for supporters and players alike, and Driver's own industry has relegated Neil McCann from left midfield to left on the bench during the recent upturn in results.

Six matches, three victories, two draws and a defeat is Hearts' record since Ivanauskas left his Lithuanian health spa, and another victory at Dunfermline this afternoon is widely predicted given the contrast in both sides' form.

The application of the Hearts players was impossible to miss against Kilmarnock despite some negligent finishing and, given that Dunfermline have scored only twice since their win over Dundee United on November 18, another positive result would seem well within the grasp of Craig Gordon and his colleagues.

Provided, of course, they maintain the diligence which has served them so well of late.

"You have to go to places like Rugby Park and work hard, if you don't you've got no chance," admitted Driver.

"First and foremost, if you aren't playing well, then even if you work hard you might keep yourself in the game. As a team, we have always worked hard but on some days you seem to fight harder than others.

"Valdas has always told us to work hard, it just so happens that over the last few weeks we've got a better shape about us. People talk about whether we want it more, and we do want it more now because we have a chance of catching back up and going for second. After a bad run, you wouldn't think you would have that opportunity."

Driver was reluctant to dwell on Malofeev's depressing six-game tenure, but he didn't have to. The lift in confidence taken by the Hearts squad during recent weeks is detectable simply from the winger's demeanour.

On the opposite flank from Driver on Saturday Saulius Mikoliunas was equally willing and energetic, because operating a wide role for Hearts now requires dynamism like never before.

There were, as always, a few trademark misplaced passes and confused looks from Mikoliunas during the 90 minutes and, likewise, Driver betrayed the occasional sign of inexperience in what was only the winger's second start for the club. But the need for sweat and toil appears no longer to be lost on anyone at Tynecastle.

"You can't use the ball unless you work back to get it," said Driver.

"You have to work as part of the team and keep the shape and, as a winger, you also have to work in towards the middle of the park. It's not all about going forward.

"We always want to go and win a game.

"At Kilmarnock, we created a lot of chances against a team that is normally really hard to play at their own place."

Those goal-scoring opportunities were spurned, most glaringly by Roman Bednar late in the match, resulting in a 0-0 scoreline which Ivanauskas did not seem overly disappointed with after hearing of the slips by both Aberdeen and Rangers.

Driver, too, recognises that he and his team-mates are keeping pace with others who have designs on second place come May.

During the first few weeks of 2007, the task for Hearts is to leapfrog their rivals and take serious strides towards emulating last season's achievement.

That begins at East End Park today.

"Kilmarnock was a hard game, although I thought we should have got more than a point," continued Driver.

"But, with other results going the way they did, it's not as bad is we first thought.

Generally we have done well over the Christmas period, it was a busy schedule and we're flying at the moment so, if we can keep this up, we can catch the others pretty quickly.

"All away games are going to be hard but hopefully the chances we missed on Saturday will be put away at Dunfermline. Everything's getting better. Everyone's on a high, everyone wants to play and hopefully results can keep going for us."

Ivanauskas, left, has also cut a more amiable, almost jovial at times, figure in the last fortnight as his own endeavour to compensate for the destruction caused by Malofeev begins to bear fruit.

The infamous squad rotation policy is still in existence - there were another six changes to the Hearts starting line-up at Rugby Park - but even an untrained eye could detect that it is being operated much more sensibly.

Players are being deployed in their rightful positions and, in central defence, the head coach looks to have stumbled upon a partnership which may have a long future ahead of it.

"I have been pleased with Berra and Zaliukas," said Ivanauskas. "They have played together in the last few games and they are feeling confident.

"This is good for both players and they gave good performances at Rugby Park."

Whisper it, but the feel-good factor may be returning to Gorgie.

This is cultivated by a combination of positive results and an unwavering focus on that second-place finish.

Taken from the Scotsman