The fall guy

There will be a striking element of symmetry for Mikoliunas on Wednesday, when Hearts, amid an under-par season, host title-chasing Rangers. It was exactly the same scenario on a midweek evening in March 2005, when the young Mikoliunas, whose impressive form for Hearts was making headlines, hit the news for the wrong reasons.

He laughs now when recalling the "Mikogate" affair with Andy Davis, the assistant referee whose intervention handed Rangers a dubious injury time penalty at Tynecastle, but it was a serious episode at the time. The red mist descended on Mikoliunas who ran at Davis, barged into him and was promptly sent off. Handed a five-match ban, cut to three on appeal, the player labels the incident as easily the lowest point of his Hearts career.

"I got a lift as soon as I joined Hearts from the supporters, from the atmosphere, but after that came the ban and I lost my way, lost my fitness," the Lithuania international recalled. "That was the worst time for me. I never thought about going home, I am not the sort of person who thinks like that, I always look forward and I just had to concentrate on doing a good job for Hearts again. I didn't mean to do it, my emotions just took over. I knew it wasn't a penalty and I just over-reacted."

So has he changed, three years on? "Yes of course. I don't pick up red or yellow cards the way I used to. Now, if I look back to that day I laugh, I don't do things like that now."

It is difficult to believe it is over three years since he arrived in Scotland. The then baby-faced winger was one of more than 20 Lithuanians who arrived at Hearts' Riccarton training base to take part in two bounce games under the watchful eye of Anatoly Byshovets, Vladimir Romanov's eyes and ears in Edinburgh at the time.

John Robertson, then Hearts' head coach, recalls as "outstanding" the performances of Mikoliunas and Marius Kizys, also signed in January 2005, during those sessions. "After a week, Mr Byshovets came to me and said the manager wanted me to stay, myself and Marius," Mikoliunas said. "I was so happy, it had been my dream to come here, to learn about football in another country. I came to Tynecastle to watch a cup game against Partick Thistle and felt the atmosphere, which was very special.

"My first game as a player was against Livingston, we won 2-1. I came on in the second half and Paul Hartley scored a free-kick to win the game. Now, Edinburgh feels like home. When we go away for pre-season somewhere, I always feel I want to come back here. It doesn't feel like three years, it has gone so fast."

Packed into his stay in Scotland was a Scottish Cup final win over Gretna in 2006 but there have also been darker moments and five months ago, he courted national controversy once again with the dive which won a penalty for Lithuania against Scotland at Hampden. The long-term effect has been intriguing. Mikoliunas has been widely and often unfairly castigated and the Hearts man has also failed to receive the benefit of many a refereeing doubt on the domestic front, notably when being denied a seemingly stonewall penalty in the recent game against Aberdeen.

Remorse over the dive at Hampden may not be forthcoming, but neither is bitterness. "How long has it been now? How many months?" he asks. "I have watched a lot of games on television in that time and I have seen so many players do the same for the team. It is part of football; if the referee sees that you have dived then you get a yellow card, if not then you get the penalty. I have seen maybe 15 times where a player wants to playact to confuse the referee. Of course I get more stick and get watched more closely because I play in Scotland. I don't know if it is unfair, I don't mention it anymore. (Hearts coach] Stephen Frail said at the time he would take care of me, told me not to worry, as did the rest of the team. Our fans have been fantastic as well, they have lifted me when other fans were shouting at me.

"I have got used to criticism. Before, I took it very personally but now I am calm about it and realise I maybe have to show something extra on the pitch."

Mikoliunas's detractors would be disappointed if they ever spent so much as half an hour in his company. As engaging, genial and dedicated a professional as exists at Tynecastle – a point made publicly by Craig Gordon, the former captain – the 23-year-old has learned to roll with the punches and concentrate on football, rather than the hubris which surrounds it.

Branded a favourite of Romanov, the Hearts owner, the natural talents of Mikoliunas, recognised instantly by Robertson, have often been ignored. "I don't even remember the last time I spoke with Mr Romanov," stressed Mikoliunas. "He has done a lot for the club and he wants to do more with the new stand. I think he has been good for Hearts and for Scotland. Nobody in Lithuania talks too much about it, he is a businessman and he can do what he likes with his own money; he has also built a championship-winning team at Kaunas so the people there cannot complain."

In backing up earlier assertions from Gordon that Hearts' pre-season campaign was largely responsible for a poor start to the SPL season, Mikoliunas has paid tribute to Frail, who has galvanised the club since the turn of the year. "We were very down when Shaggy (Frail] took over, and he has lifted us up," added Mikoliunas. "Training is good, the spirits have been lifted and everyone is doing their best because we are all happy. It is very difficult for a manager here because only 11 players can play, but we have 25 or 26 at basical
ly the same level; it is hard for him to keep everybody happy.

"I don't think we prepared for the season so well. We should have done better in pre-season, then we did not play well in the first game of the season and lost a lot of confidence straight away. It has taken time to get that confidence back. But everybody is now happy, everybody is doing their best and we have players coming back from injury, Larry (Kingston] is back from the African Nations Cup, and we feel we can finish the season much better than we started it."

Mikoliunas's personal aspirations relate to winning another trophy with Hearts, playing in England and helping his wife, Roberta, through the birth of the couple's first child in May. Could a boy, perhaps, play football for Scotland? "I don't think they would have him!" laughs the winger, well aware of public perception but now mature enough to handle it.

Taken from the Scotsman