Sergio heartened as Sutton hits goal trail ahead of big night

Sutton, a former Spurs trainee, gave watching White Hart Lane coach Clive Allen food for thought with a double in Saturday’s comfortable 3-0 victory over struggling Aberdeen at Tynecastle.

The 27-year-old had failed to find the back of the net in five previous appearances since his summer arrival from Motherwell and had found himself relegated to the bench for the previous two outings following Sergio’s appointment in place of Jim Jefferies.

Hearts had taken just a point from their opening three league games this season, but strikes either side of half-time against Aberdeen helped lift spirits ahead of the arrival of the likes of Luka Modric, Peter Crouch and Jermain Defoe in Harry Redknapp’s star-studded line-up.

Sergio, who has talked up his team’s chances of springing a surprise on Thursday, reckons there will be more to come from Sutton now he has got off the mark for the season.

He said: “It’s good first of all for the team, and it’s good for (John) too. When a new striker comes to a club all the people always expect too much and sometimes the player is not able to live with that pressure. So, it’s very good for him and I’m sure he’s going to improve in the future too.”

Sergio has tried hard to deflect attention away from this week’s glamour European tie in a bid to ensure the day-to-day importance of the Premier League was not forgotten about.

Hearts have suffered defeat at Motherwell and picked up their first victory of the season against Aberdeen at the weekend since the draw was made ten days ago. However, there can be no denying the spotlight that will now fall firmly on Tynecastle on Thursday evening.

Sergio added: “Until now, I have not thought too much about Tottenham. I am doing that now and we will have time to speak with the players.

“We know it’s going to be a very difficult battle but we are going to try to play our cards.”

Hearts were last night assessing the fitness of defender Eggert Jonsson and winger Arvydas Novikovas following Saturday’s match. Novikovas, who scored the openign goal, was forced off at half-time because of an ankle injury.

Jonsson was also withdrawn from the action with a couple of minutes left after sustaining a rib injury. It is hoped both players will be available for the meeting with Spurs but there were concerns over both ahead of yesterday’s training session.

Sergio said: “We will see how Arvydas and Eggert are. We have our first training session of the week, so we will have a look and see what the situation is.”