Source: Team_Talk
Gulf in class Drives winger mad
Andrew Driver admitted the gulf in class between Hearts and Spurs in the one-sided Europa League clash at Tynecastle was a shock to the system. Spurs completely outplayed their Scottish opponents in a 5-0 victory in the first leg of the play-offs.Rafael van der Vaart netted the opener in the fifth minute, with Jermain Defoe and Jake Livermore finishing off incisive moves through the heart of the home defence.Gareth Bale beat the offside trap for the fourth after Hearts briefly rallied in the early stages of the second half and Aaron Lennon converted a brutally efficient counter-attack to complete the punishment.Spurs looked quicker, stronger and sharper in every department and Hearts could not match their one-touch passing."It was so disappointing," Driver said. "You look forward to the game for so long and to let the goal in so early killed the atmosphere and it was a struggle from there. "I think you saw a massive gulf in class. It's a huge step-up."We knew it was going to be tough and we went in with a game plan to try to cancel out the gulf in class but obviously it didn't go to plan. "Every time you saw them on the break they looked so dangerous."The 23-year-old added: "It's tough when you're running after the ball all day. Football is the easiest game in the world when you've got the ball but when you're running around all day it's a very hard game to play."They showed absolute class out there. (Niko) Kranjcar in the middle, I don't think he gave the ball away all day."As a young player you look at that and want to strive to be as good as that."You've got to learn from every experience. It's a massive disappointment but you have to take something out of it."We will go into training and try to work out what went wrong."Driver is also aiming to get something positive out of next week's trip to White Hart Lane despite the painful lesson in Edinburgh."We've got absolutely no pressure on us, the damage has been done," he said. "We can go down there and enjoy the atmosphere and hopefully come back with a better result."