Hearts FC

THE stage is set for Jason Holt to make a major impact at Hearts this year. Paulo Sergio has promoted the 18-year-old from the club’s youth academy and now considers him a first-team squad member.

RYAN STEVENSON faces the prospect of remaining in exile for the next five months with no football action after Dundee United’s attempts to sign the Hearts midfielder failed.

HEARTS have agreed a three-year partnership with the Scottish Football Association to expand football participation across Edinburgh and are aiming to attract 15,000 people to a range of programmes.

MEHDI TAOUIL is targeting Hearts’ Scottish Cup fifth-round tie with St Johnstone on Sunday week as the date for his comeback from a hamstring injury.

RAITH ROVERS continue to play a pivotal role in developing Hearts’ youth academy players. For fine-tuning before first-team promotion, youngsters are dispatched to John McGlynn to learn the cut-throat side of Scottish football. The plan appears to paying dividends.

CSABA LASZLO believes Hearts players Marius Zaliukas and Arvydas Novikovas can play a major part in his reign with Lithuania, provided they are performing consistently at club level.

EIGHTEEN months managing Hearts prepared Csaba Laszlo perfectly for his new job as Lithuania’s national coach. The Hungarian, appointed by the Lithuanian Football Federation last week, today revealed his gratitude to Vladimir Romanov for strengthening his connections within the Baltic State. He feels his tenure at Tynecastle inadvertently helped him achieve his new position with the LFF.

REFRESHING honesty is fast becoming Paulo Sergio’s trademark, and he used that mindset when delivering his assessment of this encounter. Hearts did not deserve anything from their trip to the Highlands, according to their manager, although he did rue a late penalty claim which was refused despite being of the stonewall variety.