Defiant Grainger confident in Hearts attack

DANNY GRAINGER has accepted he must take a share of the blame for Hearts' painful late defeat to Liverpool last week, but the defender is adamant that the Tynecastle side's dreams of European success did not die with Andy Webster's own goal.

In front on a spirited home support, John McGlynn's Hearts more than held their own against the Barclays Premier League luminaries, and Grainger insists that the goalless draw they were so close to claiming was the least that his club deserved.

"We were really disappointed not to take at least a draw out of the game," said Grainger. "With the chances we created we could have had one or even two goals. Their keeper made some decent saves and we went close over the top of the bar a couple of times. The goal we gave away, I probably should have cut out at the front post, but these things happen and we are still in the tie."

Despite being written off by many beforehand, Hearts restored the pride lost amid last year's 5-0 thumping from Tottenham Hotspur, matching a weakened Liverpool in nearly every area. However, as the clock drew into the final 12 minutes, and a draw seemed likely, Webster turned the ball into his own net, dealing a potentially fatal blow to their European ambitions.

With a crucial away goal, the Anfield side will be overwhelming favourites to secure a place in the group stage of the Europa League in front of their own supporters tomorrow evening and, after a Tynecastle display that will have felt too close for comfort for Brendan Rogers, there is every chance that a stronger Liverpool side will be on display than the side which scraped a victory last week. Steven Gerrard, Luis Suarez and Glen Johnson all missed out on the first leg of the qualifier, and Hearts rarely looked on the back foot.

David Templeton in particular looked on fine form, revelling in the free role handed to him by McGlynn, and the centre-back paring of Webster and Marius Zaliukas did well to keep a Liverpool front line including £10m man Fabio Borini relatively quiet.

Hearts will travel south knowing that nothing more than a win will see them through, with an away goal proving the least the club will need to keep them in the tie. However Grainger rails against suggestions that he and his team-mates face mission impossible tonight, saying, "We'll go down there full of confidence and if we show the same discipline again there's no reason why we can't get a goal. Obviously we had a point to prove to ourselves after [losing to Tottenham] last year, and we said we were going to go out there and prove we are a good team.

"The fact we are disappointed we were beaten just shows how far we have come on in this last year or so. I think we were going to have to score down at Anfield no matter what, and that has not changed.

"Obviously if it was 2-0 or 3-0 we would be going down there with a different story, but we are definitely not out of this tie quite yet. We knew we would have to go down there and score and that has not changed. The game, to us, is still alive and we'll go down there full of confidence."

Gary Locke, the first-team coach at Hearts, shares Grainger's belief that an upset is not completely out of the question, regardless of the strength of their hosts. "We certainly think we can do it," said Locke. "There's no point in turning up and playing the game otherwise. We're quietly confident ahead of the match. I think we showed enough in the first leg to justify that. We believe we have the players to cause them problems and we aim to go down to Anfield and get a positive result."

Taken from the Herald