Hearts v Aberdeen reaction

Paulo Sergio acknowledged his Hearts side have much work to do to have any chance of surprising Tottenham in Thursday's Europa League clash. John Sutton scored his first Hearts goals in today's 3-0 win over Aberdeen, which gave Hearts a first Scottish Premier League victory since March.Arvydas Novikovas was also on target in the success, which provided a boost to morale ahead of Spurs' visit to Tynecastle for the Europa League play-off first leg.Sergio insisted his Hearts side have work to do, but that "we have cards to play".He said: "I'm afraid of nothing in life. I respect a lot all our opponents and we know the reality."We know it's going to be a big challenge for us - there is a huge difference between both clubs - but I'm sure we have cards to play."It's impossible to achieve perfection. We have to improve every day. I'm never satisfied with what we do. Never."There is always something we can do better and at the moment there are a lot of things we can do and we should do better."With Tottenham's Premier League match with Everton postponed due to the rioting in London, Spurs assistant first-team coach Clive Allen took the opportunity to assess Sergio's Jambos from the Tynecastle directors' box.Allen would have seen little to unduly concern Spurs boss Harry Redknapp as the scoreline suggested a dominance which was not really apparent in the contest.With 10 first-team squad members absent through injury and Eggert Jonsson and Novikovas going off injured, Sergio was satisfied with the display.Jonsson has a rib problem and Novikovas an ankle injury, with both set to be assessed early next week."Winning is always great," added Sergio, who has now won two of his three matches in charge since succeeding Jim Jefferies as boss."I saw some improvements in the performance too, but the result was the best thing today."Until now we didn't have a victory in the SPL so it was very important to win to get the players believing in what we are doing together."We are doing a pre-season in competition - it's not easy."I think when we scored the first one that changed the game. We improved, but there's a lot still to do."Aberdeen's most recent previous appearance in Gorgie was the 5-0 loss the day after Craig Brown's appointment as boss last December.If the Dons were short of confidence that day, they appeared deflated once again after a third loss from four games this season - and they are still to score after Kari Arnason was denied by the bar and Fraser Fyvie missed a good chance in the second half.Brown denied confidence was the issue.He said: "I'm hoping it's just a phase we're going through."It looked a fairly even game to me - I was maybe seeing it through rose coloured spectacles - but we didn't convert the opportunities that we had."I don't think Hearts missed a chance in the game and we must have missed five good chances, hit the bar and missed good opportunities."But goals win games and we've got to take it on the chin and accept we lost 3-0, which is not a good statistic."Aberdeen supporters had spent the first half indulging in tasteless chanting in relation to Hearts' initial support of convicted sex offender Craig Thomson over the summer, the full-back having subsequently joined FBK Kaunas in Lithuania. Like Hearts, FBK Kaunas are owned by Vladimir Romanov.However, the second goal quietened the away end and Brown criticised the chanting afterwards, while expressing his disappointment for the travelling support.He added: "I deplore that kind of chanting - that's not acceptable. But the vast majority of support was terrific."

Source: Team_Talk