Hearts V St Mirren at Tynecastle Stadium : Match Preview

03 May 2013 21:31
Hearts V St Mirren - view commentary, squad, and statistics of the game live.


Ngoo ready for cup revenge

Michael Ngoo hopes to take his Scottish Communities Cup final frustrations out on holders St Mirren when the Buddies visit Tynecastle in the Clydesdale Bank Premier League.

Danny Lennon's men lifted their first major piece of silverware in 26 years as they came from behind in dramatic style to beat Hearts 3-2 in the Hampden final in March.

That afternoon still rankles with the 20-year-old striker who joined the Jambos on loan from Liverpool in January.

The Gorgie club are looking to fill Tynecastle by dropping all ticket prices to #5 and so far more than 14,000 have taken advantage of the deal, all of them, like Ngoo, looking for some sort of revenge.

He said: "Everyone is up for it, everyone is ready to go.

"The cup final was unfortunate but Saturday is another chance to play them again and beat them, especially with the crowd that will turn up.

"I think we have a good chance."

Ngoo, who started his career at Southend, admits it could be "difficult" to extend his loan period at the club due to finances.

The Edinburgh club are about #25million in debt, with #15million of that owed to Ukio Bankas, who learned on Thursday that a Lithuanian court ruled that bankruptcy proceedings should commence against them.

With the future of Hearts subject to on-going speculation, Ngoo is set to return to Anfield for pre-season training before he makes any decisions about the next step in his career.

"After pre-season with Liverpool we will see what happens," he said. "As a young player, I need to keep working hard at things to make me a better player.

"I think I have got stronger as a player and my knowledge has got a bit better as well.

"I love Edinburgh, it is an experience any young player would ask for.

"It is not what I expected it to be. I expected everyone to be serious but everyone is bubbly, happy and they try to help one another the best way we can and get the results.

"Not many players get to play in a cup final especially in their first loan spell, so that was fantastic, as was playing in front of the fans at Tynecastle.

"I like them a lot and get on with a lot of fans that I see out.

"The negatives are being in the position we are in and the amount of injured players who could have boosted the squad and made us stronger.

"But I have had a great experience up here and will take a lot out of it."

Andy Webster is suspended for Hearts after being sent off in the defeat against Dundee at Dens Park last week.

Fellow centre-back Danny Wilson is still struggling with a thigh injury but may still feature.

St Mirren defender Marc McAusland expects Hearts to be on a revenge mission.

McAusland knows Hearts will be keen to make amends for the defeat at Hampden but backed Saints to claim the point they need to secure their SPL safety.

He said: "They will want a bit of revenge for the cup final. It's always tough going to Tynecastle.

"They have big, strong players. They are a good team. If they turn up on the day, they will give us a right hard game.

"But, hopefully, if we play the way we know we can play, we can get the job done."

Bottom side Dundee have enjoyed a resurgence under new boss John Brown in recent matches, allowing them to move to within eight points of Saints with three games to go.

The Paisley club have failed to pick up a win since their triumph at the national stadium but McAusland hopes they can finally end the Dark Blues' slim hopes of avoiding the drop.

He said: "We hoped to have done it before now but it hasn't worked out that way.

"The sooner Saturday comes, the better. Hopefully we can get it done then.

"Training has been quite relaxed this week and everybody is all right.

"We were disappointed not to get three points last Saturday but it's done now so we just need to look forward to this game."

Brown has this week attempted to crank up the pressure on the Buddies but McAusland is not interested in mind games.

He said: "I don't read about it. We just need to focus on ourselves and hopefully our performance can take care of itself and the outcome we want will be sorted."

Lennon has no fresh injury worries which means he could name a similar squad to the one who drew with Hibernian last week.

The Paisley club will again be without suspended skipper Jim Goodwin.

Source: PA