Aguiar goal heaven sent, with helping hand from Hibs

Ewan Murray
at Easter Road
Hearts equaliser a 'present from God' after injury woes
BRUNO Aguiar was left to emphasise the merits of divine intervention after the Hearts midfielder's goal capped a man-of-the-match Edinburgh derby display.

Aguiar, who had not featured for the Tynecastle outfit since April 2007, also paid tribute to the medical staff who have aided his recovery from injury. A serious ankle problem, sustained after a training-ground tackle from the former Hearts player Julien Brellier, explains the majority of Aguiar's lengthy absence. In the last closed season, he also incurred a twisted knee.

Such testing experiences were briefly at the forefront of the Portuguese player's mind as he contemplated his contribution at Easter Road.

"It was a present from God after he gave me a bad time," said Aguiar of his 42nd-minute free-kick, which earned Hearts a derby draw. The former Benfica man subsequently thanked the current Hearts physio, Rob Marshall and his predecessor, David Henderson, now at Newcastle United, for their efforts. Aguiar celebrated his goal by running directly to Marshall in the visiting dug-out, an act which earned him a rather harsh yellow card.

"I could not imagine, after 18 months, playing my first game in a derby," said the 27-year-old. "The physios have been very important to me. In 18 months, sometimes I thought I couldn't play any more but they kept pushing me to come back.

"I dedicate this to all the people at Hearts because I have a contract and have not played for 18 months, even if that is not my mistake. Whenever I met fans in the street, they told me 'Bruno, we need you back' and supported me.

"It was a very bad tackle (by Brellier] and then I had the problem with my knee, so now I am very happy.

"It has been hard, watching games on a Saturday and not being able to train on a Monday. But now I want to forget the past, this is a new life for me now.

"Now I hope to play in all the games – if the coach wants me I am ready."

Aguiar also revealed he owes a significant debt of gratitude to Yves Ma-Kalambay, the Hibernian goalkeeper, whose positioning at the time of that crucial set-play is open to question. "I saw the keeper in the middle of the goals," explained Aguiar, who proceeded to curl home a low shot. "I think he thought I was going to put it in the left side so, at the last minute, I decided to put it to the right. He helped me, because normally I would try to put it over the wall."

Fate was not on Aguiar's side later in the match; he twice lost his footing when afforded clear sights at goal. "God decided I should have just one goal," he smiled. "I think we deserved to win the game because we had more opportunities to score. I think we had a fantastic game, good tactics and created a lot. The team want to win so, while we are happy, we are not 100 per cent happy."

Csaba Laszlo, the Hearts manager, said that his first-choice goalkeeper, Marian Kello, had been taken to hospital as a precautionary measure after his clash of heads with Colin Nish led to the Slovakian being replaced by Janos Balogh at half-time. Kello had explained to Laszlo during the break that he "had lost concentration" following the incident. "Balogh is a young guy but he has played international football," Laszlo said. "He has a contract here until December and after that we can decide about his future.

"I now have a big problem for Saturday, which goalkeeper to play. We have a small squad but we are very strong in that position."

Laszlo conceded he was "not so confident" before his first Edinburgh derby experience, given Hearts' poor form of recent weeks. Yet the Hungarian cut a contented figure at full-time and praised the contribution of several of his players.

"If I look at how many chances we had, I think we must win the game," said the visiting manager. "But it is important for me to say that at the moment we are tactically very good and Hibs could not get on top of us. I am happy about Balogh's performance, I am happy about Bruno coming back after 18 months. I am also happy about Christian Nade and Andrew Driver. I think we dominated the game and the only problem is that we didn't score more goals."

Laszlo declined to comment fully on the 51st-minute incident which saw Nade's headed goal ruled out after Eddie Smith, the referee, adjudged that the Hearts striker fouled Ma-Kalambay.

"I think it was a goal but that's not a criticism of the referee," he said. "I don't think Nade did anything wrong but I have not seen it again, I must go and watch it now."

Laszlo also confirmed that Mike Tullberg, the forward on loan at Tynecastle from Reggina, suffered a recurrence of the thigh injury which has plagued him during the start of his Hearts career during training on Thursday. There is more positive news for Laszlo on David Obua and Deividas Cesnauskis, with the midfield duo expected to return to full training in the coming days.

Taken from the Scotsman