Hearts reject Beniusis has got cause for revenge tomorrow

Published on Wednesday 1 September 2010 13:45

HE was affectionately known as "Beniuseless" in Edinburgh and generally looked discomfited in Scottish football. If Lithuanians are forming an orderly queue to prove their worth against Scotland tomorrow, Ricardas Beniusis will be at the front.

Being jeered from the field on his Hearts debut against Hibernian three years ago sticks in the player's mind, for his confidence never recovered.

"Maybe it was the worst moment of my career. It was not good fun," he recalled in conversation with the Evening News. Yet Beniusis harbours no ill feeling, just a desire to prove he isn't the dud he was perceived to be.

Hearts dispatched him back to FBK Kaunas seven months after that disastrous introduction, ending his turmoil by ripping up his season-long loan agreement. He subsequently played for Metalurgs Liepaja in Latvia, Dunajska Streda in Slovakia and is now in his second spell with FK Suduva in his homeland after a brief flirtation with Israeli football at Hapoel Ra'anana.

At 30, he believes he is a more accomplished player than that which ambled around often aimlessly during nine appearances in maroon in season 2007/08. After suffering so cruelly and publicly on his first outing at Tynecastle, he knew he was on a hiding to nothing. A productive performance in Kaunas tomorrow evening, even as substitute, would set a few things straight.

"I'm not angry. I'm happy that the Lithuania coach believes in me and if he gives me the chance I will be happy," said Beniusis, one of several former Hearts players in Raimondas Zutautas' squad. "I am not angry with Scotland or with somebody there. I just try to enjoy football and I am pleased to be in the national team.

"Of course we are confident of winning tomorrow. We are playing at home so we have a good chance. Playing in Kaunas is an advantage. Scotland are not Spain so we must get the points.

"I spent a good time in Scotland playing at a good level in a good country. At first it was very difficult but step by step I played better football. I enjoyed Hearts and the Scottish league is good football. It was hard because I did not play a lot. I only played a few matches.

"I could tell you a lot of things now but what happened is gone. It was not my decision to play or not play. I tried to do my best but at that time there were better players at Hearts, so they played before me. Of course I would have liked more chances because, when it was time for me to go home, I felt I was finally able to play in Scotland."

By then judgment had long since been passed, however unfairly. Supporters had already become tired of Tynecastle's extensive influx of Lithuanians, many of whom could not hold their own in the SPL.

In the 70th minute of the opening match that season, with Hearts 1-0 down against their greatest rivals, Beniusis was substituted for Michal Pospisil. Those who expected him to replicate the form which produced 16 goals in 15 games for Kaunas before moving to Edinburgh voiced their discontent with a plethora of boos as he trotted off.

"At first when I got to the bench I thought 'where am I?' I was scared and everything was new for me," he explained. "When you play the first game for Hearts in a derby it is so hard. Maybe for my first game the coach should have given me 20 minutes or something as a sub. But when you go into the first XI and people expect something unbelievable, it is very hard."

At the time Hearts employed a complicated three-pronged management team comprising sport director Anatoli Korobochka plus coaches Stephen Frail and Angel Chervenkov. Beniusis had no idea who actually called the shots.

"I can't tell you. It was not my decision. I don't know how they talked or what they talked about. I think they wanted to try me to see what I can do.

"At first it was a new style, a higher level and the first months in Scotland were unbelievable for me; very difficult. I tried to understand the Scottish style, it was more physical. I tried to learn how to play that way. When you are training at a good level every day, you must improve.

"People would ask me why I couldn't score. They would say 'you were the best at Kaunas and here you don't score'. There was a lot of pressure but I knew I could play and I know I can score goals. Hearts had better players at the time, like Andrius Velicka who scored a lot. I am realistic and I look at things normally, not like child. I realise you must take what you can from life."

He is now back in Lithuania, where his goalscoring talents seem more suited. He plundered 13 in 11 league games for Suduva last year. "I must keep scoring because people expect this from me and I must do my best," he said. Should he feature against Scotland, Beniusis will have only one goal in mind.