By STUART BATHGATE
DAVID Obua is poised for a new role as a target man in Hearts' rearranged league match against Kilmarnock this evening as the Tynecastle manager Csaba Laszlo seeks a solution to his striking problems. All being well, Laszlo plans to start with the team which was ready to play on Saturday before a fire on the M8 prevented the Kilmarnock team from getting to Edinburgh and brought about the postponement.
Tonight's match will, however, be played with only three of Hearts' floodlights fully operational following an blaze before the club's Europa League qualifier against Dinamo Zagreb three weeks ago. Kilmarnock have voiced no objections to the game going ahead.

It is thought that tonight Laszlo plans to start with Andy Driver and Suso Santana on the wings, allowing Obua to play in a more advanced position than usual. The Ugandan tends to play wide on the left, but he is more of a midfielder than an out-and-out winger. His height, though, could make him a decent target man, with Gary Glen being the player most likely to start alongside him up front.

Laszlo spent much of the summer in pursuit of a striker to add to his squad, and having been denied one by Hearts owner Vladimir Romanov, he is clearly inclined to experiment. Of the club's three league goals in their three matches to date, only one came from a recognised striker – David Witteveen's strike in the 2-1 defeat by Rangers, which only entered the net thanks to an error by Allan McGregor.

The other two, both of which came in the draw against St Johnstone, were scored by defender Jose Goncalves and Obua himself. The composure with which Obua netted the rebound from an Arvydas Novikovas shot may have been what convinced his coach to try him out as a striker from the start.

That draw at McDiarmid Park gave Hearts their only point to date, but there is a collective belief at Tynecastle that they have not been playing too badly. Midfielder Ian Black, for example, said last week that a lack of the final touch up front had been the only thing they had been lacking in their opening few games.

Where that final touch comes from will surely be a secondary matter for Laszlo. With the club's next match being at Celtic Park on Sunday, three points tonight would be the ideal boost to their morale. If they lose, on the other hand, an ominous gap will be visible between them and the bulk of the SPL. Hamilton Accies' 2-0 win at home to Hibernian on Sunday, while no doubt welcome in itself to Hearts supporters, meant the Tynecastle club fell to second bottom of the table. Falkirk, the only team below them, went into last night's game against Aberdeen knowing that a victory would take them off the bottom.

If Hearts do opt for a 4-4-2 formation with Driver and Suso wide in midfield, Black may have to content himself with a place on the bench, Michael Stewart and Ruben Palazuelos being likely to start in central midfield. Laryea Kingston, on the other hand, will be neither in the starting line-up nor among the substitutes as his dispute with Laszlo rumbles on.

"Larry Kingston did not play many games for us last season," Laszlo said yesterday. "He did not score many goals. "We have played a lot of goals without him and we will also play the next games without him. He is not in the squad."

The Hearts board are set to meet this week to decide on a course of action over Kingston, who has confessed his lack of enthusiasm for playing for Hearts. "I told my opinion about this and it is now over my head," Laszlo added.

Black has expressed the belief that his team had every right to think they could challenge for a third-place finish or even higher, but Laszlo does not want to be so specific yet. As was the case last season, his initial aim is to get into the top six.

Clearly he wants to do that as soon as possible in as high a position as possible, but his modest ambition is a tacit recognition that there are a handful of teams in the league who are all fairly close to each other in terms of ability.

Kilmarnock are two points ahead of Hearts, having got their SPL campaign off to a good start with a win at Hamilton, but then losing their following two matches against Motherwell and St Mirren. With a home game against Rangers coming up at the weekend, they too could do with a good result tonight.

Taken from the Scotsman