PONDERING his eight-month spell at Hearts, Ricardas Beniusis quickly arrives at the conclusion that he didn't get sufficient game time to properly showcase his goal-scoring potential. In that respect, he feels fully justified in criticising the Tynecastle management regime.
The imposing striker returned to FBK Kaunas this week when Hearts terminated his season-long loan early.
After just one start – that horrible evening last August against Hibs – and eight substitute appearances, he has been deemed more suited to t
he tranquil Lithuanian A Lyga than the often frenetic Scottish Premier League.
That judgement, argues Beniusis, is unfair and somewhat premature. Neither Angel Chervenkov nor his successor Stephen Frail saw fit to grant the 27-year-old an extended run in the first team despite his 16 goals in 15 games for Kaunas last year.
That left the player cutting a notably disconsolate figure around Riccarton as he wondered which direction, if any, his career was heading. Adding to the melancholy was a touch of home sickness due to his wife and family remaining in Lithuania, but the crux of the issue was his lack of exposure to the Scottish game.
"Beniuseless" was the nickname Hearts fans accorded him, but due to the sparsity of his appearances, the Lithuanian internationalist insists no-one in Scotland could form a genuine impression of his talent.
"Of course I wanted to play more, that was the problem," he said. "I don't think I was given enough chances because one start is not a lot. It certainly wasn't enough for me.
"After the Hibs game I felt everyone was judging me. A few weeks later I thought about what more I could do to make the situation better. A lot changed but the manager still didn't give me a real chance to prove it.
"I'm disappointed because I think I could have shown more to the supporters. I wanted to be successful in Scotland and now that chance has gone."
Kaunas begin their new season against FK Silute a week today with Beniusis intending to take up where he left off in his native league.
He continued: "All my memories of Scotland are very good. I took something from Scottish football and I think I spent my time well. It was very nice but I am happy to be back with Kaunas. Here, I know the team and I know the league so in some ways this is a fresh start for me again."
The notion that Beniusis never overcame the trauma of being booed from the field on his Hearts debut is one Frail concurs with.
When substituted during an insipid team display against Hibs in the opening game of the season, he became the scapegoat for supporters' dissatisfaction with Tynecastle's hierarchy and was roundly jeered to the touchline.
Starting Beniusis in a new footballing environment when less than fully fit was Angel Chervenkov's decision, one Frail willingly distanced himself from.
"It was unfair on the lad to put him in when it was such a big game. We saw how he suffered for that," he said.
"To be fair, he didn't let it affect him in and around the club because he's an amiable big guy and he's always bouncy. But it took him a long time to recover and, in hindsight, you would probably say it was the wrong decision.
"It was an uphill struggle for him after that. The game was against our local rivals and was live on television and it just didn't happen for him. I hope he looks back on his time at Hearts with some memories that are not all bad. It was an awful night for the big lad.
"He featured very little after starting the Hibs game. He was a nice lad, a good trainer and worker but I couldn't see a regular starting place for him in the team. Kaunas have taken him back to Lithuania and we wish him all the success."
Frail also conceded that numbers in attack are now running thin on the ground for Hearts following Beniusis' departure. He continued: "We're a tiny bit sparse up front. We have Jamie Mole and Calum Elliot, Larry Kingston can play up there as can Audrius Ksanavicius. Juho Makela scored two goals in midweek for the reserves so we have one or two options."
As yet another Lithuanian returns from whence he came having failed to adjust to Scotland's footballing standards, Frail believes Hearts may already have the country's best talent on their books via Vladimir Romanov's famous loan deals. However, the interim manager isn't naive enough to believe that his paymaster will now suddenly stop putting Kaunas players on trial in Edinburgh.
"I know some of the Lithuanian lads from their international games and I know their skipper plays in Italy, but they're a small country and I think we have the cream of their talent," said Frail.
"I still believe we've yet to see the best of guys like Marius Zaliukas. Miko shows in spells how good he can be but the avenue will still be open for us to bring guys in from Lithuania."
The full article contains 864 words and appears in Edinburgh Evening News newspaper.
