VALDAS Ivanauskas reacted angrily yesterday to reports that his opposite number at Hibernian, John Collins, had branded Hearts a "pub team". Ivanauskas, the head coach of the Tynecastle side, said he believed the remarks, which were claimed to have been made at the end of the Edinburgh derby on Boxing Day, showed a lack of respect for Hearts.
"He is very intelligent, and a very clever manager, but if he says these words it's not good for him," the Lithuanian said yesterday. "First, it is not true. Second, he's maybe very angry after losing on Boxing Day, but OK, that is his choice. Now I
am very, very angry.
"I think yes, [they show a lack of respect]. For me, I don't have any negative reaction about any other manager or other teams, just respect. You must respect teams and also managers."
Although Hibs would neither confirm nor deny the reports yesterday, even without them there would have been bad blood between Edinburgh's two teams. The claim by Dean Shiels, backed up by Collins, that there was only one team trying to play football was enough to have irked the Hearts coach, and the continuing controversy over Shiels' sending-off surely exacerbated matters. The 'pub team' remark, if true, appears to be just another instance of Collins reacting bitterly to a 3-2 defeat which he thought his team did not deserve.
Having put that issue to bed, Ivanauskas turned his thoughts to Hearts' visit this afternoon to Rugby Park, where they are aiming for their third consecutive SPL win following the 1-0 victory at Tannadice last Saturday and the derby triumph three days later. "Mentally it has been very good, because both games were very hard," he said.
"Although we lost the [preceding] game against Aberdeen there were more positive aspects. We know how difficult it is to play at Rugby Park - we lost this game last season and we lost against them at home last time.
"We know they are a very hard team to play at home, but our situation is much better and the table is looking better. We know we have two hard games coming up, and second place is a long way, but I think there is hope for the future."
Invited to look back on a turbulent year at Tynecastle, Ivanauskas said that, while the team's league position now is lower than it was 12 months ago, he believed that in general progress had been made. "It was a great year for Hearts - finishing second in the table and the Scottish Cup win - but it was also a learning process for everybody. For the players, for me, for the club management.
"It has been an emotional year, but also a positive year. We have had a lot of positive and negative experiences, and everybody has learned from it. I think it's a better situation now."
The injury situation, however, is not ideal at present, and Ivanauskas was anxiously awaiting yesterday afternoon's training session before finalising his team for the trip to Kilmarnock. Jose Goncalves, Edgaras Jankauskas and Julien Brellier will miss out today after picking up knocks against Hibs, and there are doubts over a couple of others who took part in that match. Meanwhile, Mauricio Pinilla, Deividas Cesnauskis, Mirsad Beslija and Ibrahim Tall are still on the injured list.
The upshot is that the team which takes to the field may show no more than the three necessary changes from the one which began against Hibs. Robbie Neilson and Takis Fyssas will come back into the reckoning after being rested, and Andrew Driver could challenge for Neil McCann's place, but otherwise the coach will not have too many selection predicaments.
Among those turning up for training yesterday was the Kaunas goalkeeper Eduardas Kurskis, who is on trial with Hearts. "It's difficult to say at the moment whether he could be here long term," Ivanauskas added.
"I have some good first-team goalkeepers and some young boys too, but Kurskis is working hard with us and he is a good keeper. It is good for him to be here for a couple of weeks and train with us, because in Lithuania just now it is not possible to train normally because of the cold."
In common with his coach, Christophe Berra said Hearts had to use the last couple of weeks as a stepping stone to greater things. "As you saw against Hibs, we showed good character and team spirit to go on and win the game," the centre-back said.
"Obviously people think our season has not been as good as last season, but we're still only five points behind second place, so it's all there to challenge for. Hopefully over the next couple of seasons we'll build and get stronger and stronger and challenge for the title."
