Hearts still search for a new striker

By COLLEEN STRACHAN
Published on Friday 14 September 2012 12:00

HEARTS boss John McGlynn admitted today that he is still scouring the market for another striker.

McGlynn, who brought in Ryan Stevenson during the summer transfer window, would like to add more attacking options and is keen to bring in at least one more new face.

At the moment the Tynecastle side rely mainly on forward John Sutton to bag them goals but McGlynn is keen to give the former Motherwell man more support.

McGlynn, who has been linked with a move to bring Rudi Skacel back to the club, said: “From the minute we came in it would have been nice to have another striker to give us some more options up front. It’s not materialised but there are still players out there who are free agents.

“It’s not to say something can’t be done or won’t be done, so I wouldn’t say that will not happen.

“We’ve tried a number of players now, and with Ryan Stevenson coming in it gives us one or two options. He’s maybe not an out-and-out striker but he’s an attacking midfielder who – wherever he’s played – has managed to get goals, so we’re looking for him to help us in that manner.”

While he craves more firepower, McGlynn believes Hearts are not too far away from the kind of form he desires.

Aside from losing the early goal which cost them the game against Dundee before the international break and the 93rd-minute winner scored by Inverness to earn them a late share of the spoils, McGlynn has been satisfied by what he has seen so far.

They have suffered just that one league defeat this season – but have also won only one match, on the opening day of the season against St Johnstone.

McGlynn continued: “We’re not far away. You could take about two-and-a-half minutes out of our season and it could be so different. If we didn’t lose a goal two minutes into the game against Dundee, and if we managed to survive against Inverness for 30 seconds or so.

“For two and a half minutes we could have had five more points. Of course, you could take the old phrase: ‘if your granny had...’ and all the rest of it.

“But we were very close in these situations. We should have survived against Inverness, and if we had not lost an early goal against Dundee it could have been so different.

“So there are a lot of positives to take. We’ve played a number of younger players and they’ve gained a lot of experience; some have been given their debuts.

“We went away in the derby and were gritty enough to get a point. We’ve only lost one league game, which obviously we’d prefer not to have done. But considering we’re in a big transition, having lost key players from the cup final and been difficult to replace them, I think we’re doing okay.”

Taken from the Scotsman