Hero Skacel hits hat-trick

Saturday's exquisite hat-trick brought him four goals in four games to date including his strike against Rangers earlier this month. Given his impact, it might actually be an idea to dig that one-year contract out the filing cabinet and start negotiations for an extension. Skacel looks back at home and content once again and the thought of him leaving again doesn't bear thinking about for Hearts.

The hysteria prompted by his three stunning goals against St Mirren is tempered somewhat by analysis of the opposition. Danny Lennon has a mammoth task if he is to keep his club in the Scottish Premier League, and he isn't likely to succeed with half a team plucked from Cowdenbeath.

That will be of little concern to Hearts, though. This victory brought Jefferies his first home win since April and ensured St Mirren remain firmly rooted to the bottom of the SPL. In addition to Skacel, there were impressive performances from Suso, Marius Zaliukas and Ruben Palazuelos in a game mostly dominated by the hosts.

The goalscorer was in fine form both during and after the game, and spoke of reaching a personal milestone with his third goal in the 90th minute. Both his first-half strikes arrived in front of the Roseburn Stand: first a controlled drive from Kevin Kyle's lay-off following excellent lead-up work by Suso, then a beautifully flighted free-kick high into the top corner.

But his third, a powerful right-footer after a meandering solo run, brought greatest satisfaction. "I'm so glad because so many supporters asked me when I would score at the Gorgie end. I had never scored at that end of the ground for Hearts," explained Skacel. "I had so many chances in previous games but finally I did it with my right foot. I'm glad it's behind me and I don't need to listen to this question any more.

"I scored a hat-trick last year for Slavia Prague.

But it's more important to get three points, this just helps my confidence. A hat-trick is a nice feeling but it's important for us to win. It wasn't an easy game but I am more pleased I scored at the Gorgie end. One lady had a Czech flag with 'welcome back' on it so I gave her my shirt at the end."

Having played in one of the most talented Hearts teams of the modern era in season 2005/06, Skacel said he found it difficult to compare that squad with his current team-mates. "I don't want to compare anything because it's a different squad, a young team.

"You can't compare because there were big names here and this is a young team. Hopefully one day we will be strong enough and push into the top four.

"I want to help the team and score goals and hopefully we will be in the top four, this is our target. For me it's not easy but we will see how my confidence goes."

Skacel also harbours a personal ambition to regain his place in the Czech national squad, a central reason in him agreeing to return to Tynecastle. His target is to play in next year's potentially crucial European Championship qualifier against Scotland at Hampden Park. "I want to play good football and help Hearts and hopefully they can help me back into the national team. I played international games before and I hope the manager picks me again. I am a bit older now. I was not scared, I played for my national team so hopefully I can help this team.

"I played for the national team in May in an American tournament. That was only five months ago, and I played against Scotland (in March's friendly]. It's my target, my dream, to play at Hampden next year. Hopefully there's a chance I will be there.

"It's most important that we go through and maybe Scotland too. This summer this opportunity came to go to Hearts and I had confidence to play good football here. I hope that can help me go to the international level. It's special because we play against Scotland in the group."

Skacel's euphoria was shared by Jefferies, who was happy to have ended the winless run at home. "We've got this monkey off our backs. People said we hadn't won at home but we've put that right now," he said.

"We got off to a good start, the goal was a terrific move with Suso on the right. It was a good lay-off and finish and that got us off and running. We looked like going and getting another one but we sat off for ten or 15 minutes and they got more possession than I'd have liked.

"The second goal was a terrific free-kick, and we could have had one or two more. One came off the bar when Marius Zaliukas put Rudi through. At half-time I said to the players not to think about 2-0 because we wanted three or four to make it a comfortable win.

"Danny Lennon would've been telling his players they were 2-0 down last week (against Hamilton] and came back. I said to Rudi he had to get a hat-trick but he said he'd never scored at the Gorgie end.

I said, 'think positive, there's always a first for everything'. He had to wait a long time but it was a great finish with his right foot. In the end, it was a comfortable win against a stuffy aside who never gave up."

Iain Jenkins, St Mirren's assistant manager, bemoaned lapses of concentration from his defenders and pinpointed that as the main reason for this and other defeats. "The last couple of weeks have been sore for us," he explained.

"We're losing goals at crucial times. It started at Inverness when we conceded just before and just after half-time. It's becoming a habit. We're preparing all week and then conceding the worst goals at the worst times. To give ourselves any chance we have to stop these silly errors. We can blame individuals at the time but other players have to react. We aren't getting that continuity of 'my team-mate's slipped up and I have to go and cover'."

Jenkins was especially dejected to lose a goal after little more than a minute's play. "It's disappointing because we asked the team to press," he continued. "We did that but not as aggressively as we'd like.

"You don't get things handed on a plate at Tynecastle. I'm not saying players are making mistakes on purpose. We need to work together and try to cut mistakes out or we'll find it a tough season. There's always a determination from everyone at the club to stop losing goals. We are working hard at it but we're finding it an uphill battle every week. We only start performing at 2-0 down."

Taken from the Scotsman