Early start won't help us against Paksi, says Billy Brown

No Scottish side has ever played Paksi in European competition for the simple reason that this is Paksi's first outing in Europe. They finished second in the Hungarian league last season and are also the reigning Hungarian League Cup holders, but that surprise 3-0 victory in Tromso after a 1-1 draw in Hungary was arguably the biggest result in the club's history.

For much of its existence, Paksi was a junior and then lower league team, only gaining promotion to the top flight NB1 in 2006, some 54 years after the club was founded in Paks, a town in central Hungary with a population of just 20,000, and whose main claim to fame is that it is the site of the country's major nuclear power station.

Paksi's stadium holds only 4,000 and they play their European home ties at the ground of Videoton FC. On paper, this should be a breeze for a Europe-experienced club such as Hearts, but as so many Scottish sides have discovered, the latest being Dundee United, there really are no easy ties in Europe.

Hearts' assistant manager Billy Brown is certainly not underestimating the Hungarians: "Tromso had beaten Chelsea, Galatasaray and Red Star Belgrade up there. If the Hungarian team can beat them, they must be a decent side as well."

Paksi also have one sort of advantage - by Thursday, the Hungarians will have had six competitive matches this season compared to Hearts' single outing yesterday against Rangers. They put out UE Santa Coloma of Andorra 5-0 on aggregate in the first qualifying round, before their second-round matches against Tromso, and they will have had a couple of league matches, too.

Brown acknowledges that Scottish football has tried to help clubs progress in Europe with an earlier start to the season, but he does not feel it will be helpful.

He said: "We have been back a month now, everybody's looking fit, and we just hope we're ready. Obviously we're not going to be as match fit as the other team but that's the way it is.

"I didn't agree with the early start to the season as I don't think it has benefited anybody. Certainly when I was lying on that beach in Santa Ponsa and having to think that I would be training three days later - I could have done with another fortnight.

"To be fair, the authorities, the SPL, tried to help but it certainly hasn't helped Dundee United and we are only going to get one game as a help, so I don't think it is making much difference."

Paksi SE

Founded: 1952

Ground: Stadion PSE (4,000)

Manager: Karoly Kis

Paksi SE competed at county level until 1981/82, when they had a single season in the national third division. They returned to the national set-up in 1984 and remained in the third division for the rest of the 1980s. A merger with local rivals ASE in 1993 strengthened the club and they were promoted to the second division western division in 2001. They reached the top flight for the first time in 2006. Last season's second-place finish saw them qualify for Europe for the first time. Fielding an all-Hungarian squad, they have played the home legs of their two ties so far, against Santa Coloma of Andorra and Norway's Tromso, at Videoton's Sostoi Stadion, in Szekesfehervar.spare page