Objective Achieved For Hearts
By Ed_ScottishFitba
Updated Monday, 23rd July 2007
Team building and bonding are the main targets of any pre-season tour and the results don't really matter.
Hearts may have lost their last game of their three week pre-season tour of Austria and Germany to Moroka Swallows but assistant head coach Stephen Frail says the tour achieved it's objectives. A very young Jambos team which included just two senior players - Steve Banks and Robbie Neilson - lost 1-0 against their Johannesburg opponents to finish off their pre-season tour. While there was obvious disappointment at the final result, which came a day after Hearts hammered Dutch team Heracles Almelo 5-1, the Tynecastle number two remained positive.
Frail said: "We came up against a top team from South Africa where the standard will be reasonable. They moved it quickly and took up good areas when they did not have the ball. We had a very inexperienced team out so I am not overly worried about the preparations in the build-up to the start of the season. I thought in the second half, after we got the players in at half-time and told them what we were looking for, that they did well and stuck to the task. As I say, Moroka played a system and style that we're maybe not accustomed to back home, and we had to adjust to that. But I think we saw signs last night that the sharpness is getting there."
Hearts next opponents are Barcelona in a glamour friendly at Murrayfield next Saturday. While Frail is looking forward to a game that should attract more than 40,000 fans, he insists the most important fixture on the horizon is the SPL game against Hibs on Monday August 6. He went on: "I am sure that a lot of players will want to play next Saturday against Barcelona. But while we are all looking forward to it, because as a club it is a fantastic thing for us, the focus has to be on the game against Hibs. It is about getting our best and most experienced team on the park for that game." |
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