England-Scotland gulf too big says Redknapp as Spurs hammer Hearts

HEARTS fell to their worst ever defeat in Europe last night. The 5-0 loss at home to Tottenham Hotspur leaves the Tynecastle side with the prospect of a futile trip to London for the return leg next week.

It was the scenario many had feared as Spurs barely broke sweat to all but ensure their passage into the group stage of the Europa League. Yet the recriminations went on long into the night as Hearts manager Paulo Sergio later attempted to make sense of what he had watched. His opposite number in the Spurs dug-out, Harry Redknapp, pointed to the huge gulf in class between the sides caused by the enormous difference in resources - TV money - north and south of the border.

"My players were like people who had brought a ticket for the match," said Sergio, with reference to a first-half performance which saw Spurs take an unassailable 3-0 lead. Rafael Van der Vaart opened the scoring after just four minutes and Jermain Defoe extinguished Hearts' chances with a second goal after 12 minutes. Jake Livermore, who was partnered by the exceptional Niko Kranjcar in the centre of midfield, then made it three after 27 minutes.

Sergio took some succour from the way Hearts rallied in the second half, but two further goals, from Gareth Bale and Aaron Lennon, made it a bleak night for the hosts, who welcomed legendary skipper Dave Mackay back to the stadium for the game against the club he went on to serve with equal distinction.

However, gone are the days when a player from Hearts could be accommodated with effortless ease in the Spurs first-team. The visitors simply swatted Hearts aside, and Redknapp will now use the redundant second leg as an opportunity to field his younger, more inexperienced players. If there was a positive to be taken by Hearts from last night it was that Spurs had at least fielded what Redknapp described as his strongest available side.

• In pictures: Hearts 0 - 5 Tottenham Hotspur

• Match report: Hearts 0 - 5 Tottenham Hotspur

The genial Spurs manager sought to further soften the blow afterwards when making the observation that this is how he always envisaged his side playing. "This is how we try to play, this is how I want them to play," he said. "In the first half it could not have gone better."

But the bleak subject of the gulf in class had also to be addressed. Sergio felt his side had given their English opponents too much respect in the first half, where they trailed by three goals after just half an hour. "When you let players like they have run into empty spaces you allow them to do what they did to us," he said. "But we tried to give a different image in the second half.

"I think we respected them too much. They are men like us, guys were respecting them too much."

Sergio was asked whether he found the result embarrassing, with the game having been beamed live to the nation on ITV 4. "You can say what you want, for me, when you try to do the right things, you have nothing to be embarrassed about," he said. "It's football, these things happen."He added: "I dreamt about something big. I dreamt about giving an excellent night to our fans."

Instead Hearts posted thekind of result - and display - which will signal another round of inquests about the state of Scottish football. "What happened today is my problem," Sergio said, when asked to comment on the impact of the result on game as a whole in this country.

Redknapp sounded genuinely concerned about the parlous state of the game north of the Border. He was also sympathetic. He has, after all, already spoken this week about the difficulties presented by the financial might of England's top four clubs when compared with the rest of the Premier League. That said, he had still expected Hearts to put up more of a fight.

"No, not really," he replied, when asked whether he imagined it would be so straightforward. "You saw the atmosphere before the game and you thought it was going to be a difficult night. But we moved the ball around really well and it was difficult for them to stay with us. The movement off the ball and the passing was absolutely top class. That's how I like to see us play."

"It's difficult, isn't it?", he added. "The resources are completely different now, for sure. It's pretty obvious. I don't want to be disrespectful to Scottish football but there is a big gulf. It's plain for anyone to see now.

"All the great clubs, all the great players when I was young, it's changed an awful lot now," he added. "There's not many great Scottish players around in all honesty. We had a good day. We could come here again and it might be different. I watch Scottish football all the time, when it's on TV I don't miss a game. I have seen some good games. But there's a difference. Look at the money paid in the Premier League, there has to be a gulf."

Looking ahead to the second leg at White Hart Lane on Thursday, a fixture bookended by games against Manchester United and Manchester City, he said: "It will give me a chance to play a few of the younger players, and give them an opportunity to play. We can make a few changes."

He was then asked if the challenge at Tynecastle could be viewed as any sort of preparation for Monday night's opening league fixture, at Old Trafford. "Different game altogether, different game," he said. He could certainly say that again.

Meanwhile, elsewhere in the Europa League last night, Stoke City manager Tony Pulis praised his players for overcoming the challenge of FC Thun's artificial pitch to record a 1-0 win in the opening leg of their play-off clash. Danny Pugh hit a 19th-minute winner for the Barclays Premier League side but they came under some pressure before home goalkeeper David Da Costa was sent off for violent conduct in injury time.

Pulis said: "It was difficult on the Astroturf because we don't have much experience on this kind of ground. They were difficult conditions but otherwise it was a brilliant game."

Currently top of the Swiss Super League table, Thun had had the first shot through Stephan Andrist in the 13th minute which sailed over the bar, while Robert Huth booted clear a Muhamed Demiri cross. Pugh's opener did not make it easy for the visitors as Thun piled on the pressure and after clearances by Huth and Ryan Shawcross, Stoke keeper Thomas Sorensen tipped a Thomas Reinmann free-kick round his post.

As the game wore on, Stoke's fitness began to tell with Matthew Etherington shooting over the bar then bringing a fine save out of Da Costa, who punched clear. Benjamin Luthi drilled a right-footed free-kick into the Stoke wall in the 84th minute then Stipe Matic fired wide from 12 yards from a Reinmann cross.

As Stoke held on, Da Costa let his frustrations get the better of him and shortly afterwards the final whistle left the English side in command heading into the second leg.

Clint Dempsey's brace helped Fulham secure a comfortable 3-0 victory over Dnipro ahead of next week's return leg in Ukraine. The United States international followed up his first half effort with a header shortly after the restart to help Martin Jol's side to an impressive win against Juande Ramos' side. The Spaniard replaced Jol as Tottenham manager four years ago but the Dutchman managed to exact some revenge at Craven Cottage.

While Dnipro looked a sturdy outfit in the first period, Aaron Hughes' sucker punch as half-time approached was the first of three goals they conceded in ten minutes. Dempsey struck either side of the break to extend Fulham's advantage, while resolute defending meant the visitors were unable to find an elusive away goal. "We could have scored four or five and they had probably more shots on goals than we liked in the last 20 minutes," said Jol.

Birmingham City, who qualified for Europe thanks to their Carling Cup final success last season despite being relegated to the Championship, drew 0-0 with Nacional in their first-leg match in Madeira. But Chris Hughton's side could have enjoyed a much better evening as they struck the woodwork three times.

Chris Wood was twice denied by the frame of the goal in a five-minute spell either side of half-time while Scottish defender Steven Caldwell also saw a first-half header strike the post as Birmingham came closest to breaking the deadlock at the Estadio da Madeira.

"I'm very happy with the result. We played at a special stadium against a good team. Of course to get a draw away in a competition like this is always good," said Hughton, whose side were competing in a major European competition for the first time since 1962 but missing some key players because of injuries.