Hearts must remain composed on ‘normal’ match day, says Paulo Sergio

AS HE prepared to take charge of his first Edinburgh derby back in August, Paulo Sergio surprised veteran observers of the fixture by contradicting conventional wisdom. “It’s an emotional game, but I want my players to be cold and focused,” the new Hearts manager said.

Cold? Focused? Surely the derby was about winning battles, playing at 100 miles an hour and clogging the opposition into submission?

But if we thought then that Sergio’s analysis of the game was naive, we have since been forced to conclude otherwise. Hearts beat Hibernian 2-0 in that match, and have also triumphed in the two derbies which have been played since. Yes, the Tynecastle team has shown passion and commitment and all the other traditional virtues, but they have also kept their heads. And the manager has every intention of ensuring they will do the same at Hampden in tomorrow’s Scottish Cup final.

He has tried to inculcate a style of playing – and a way of thinking – into his team. He wants them to prepare with equal thoroughness for every game; to accept that each match is special, but to hold on to the composure which, at their best this season, they have shown. That explains why, asked at Tynecastle yesterday to talk about the magnitude of the occasion, the Portuguese manager talked it down. “I hope and I believe that around five o’clock it is going to be a tremendous day,” Sergio said. “Before that it will be just a normal day.

“I understand all the atmosphere being created about this game, but if I said to you it was different then maybe I haven’t been such a good professional in all the games we have played before now. I always give 100 per cent to prepare for every single day of work I do, every single game we play. So from that point of view this is not any different.

In Saturday’s bumper 24-page Scotsman Sport pull-out, the latest interviews, features and exclusives from the Hibs and Hearts camps ahead of the all-Edinburgh Scottish Cup final.

“We are working the same way we work for the other games, because we are very serious in what we do. We are not doing different things than we have done before. I think that would be a mistake, because I think there are routines the players are used to. So we should keep doing what they are used to to help them put in a very good performance and help them win that cup.

“I hope after the game it will be a special moment. But before the game and during it we will just focus on the football and forget everything around us. I believe I am working with serious professionals, so I can’t accept they are more focused for this game than any other. If they did that, they’re wrong in that moment.

“It is just as important to win this game as it was to beat Auchinleck [Talbot, in the fourth round]. If we didn’t beat Auchinleck, we are not here to play Hibs. So why is this more important than the others?”

Hearts have not lost to Hibs for three years now – an unbeaten run stretching to ten games. It has been argued that Sergio’s team, because of that record and because they are favourites, are under more pressure than Hibs, but the manager gave such a notion short shrift. “If you believe that losing puts the pressure onto the other team that wins more times, okay, you keep losing,” he said. “Keep losing and put the pressure onto us.”

Sergio settled on his ideal starting line-up “two or three games ago”, but still appears uncertain whether Craig Beattie will be able to take his place in it, or even in the squad. The striker has been trying to shake off the effects of a tight hamstring, and it looks touch and go whether he will be involved. “He worked yesterday and he will work today,” Sergio explained. “Then we can make a decision to see if he will be fit enough to deserve to be in the squad.”

Uncertainty of a different nature surrounds Sergio himself, as he and Hearts have yet to agree a new contract for next season. He has said for some time that he wants to stay, having grown to regard the capital as his second home. And, while his players will be told to remain cold and focused, he urged the Hearts support to make a more impassioned contribution.

“I love the club, and when I say what I say it’s not to be agreeable or to say nice things to our supporters, because if I don’t like something I’d tell them. That’s the sort of guy I am. I love our supporters and I’m giving everything for them because they deserve it. We normally have 2,000 to 3,000 fans travelling with us all over the country, which is great, because I am not used to that from back in Portugal.

“They have a game to win as well. Their role should be to be noisier than the Hibs fans and they need to support their team from the very first second. We also have to play our role, but we need them behind us from the first second to the last.”