Hearts keeper Janos Balogh glad to save the day

IF ANY Hearts player was going to be disappointed about Csaba Laszlo's departure from Tynecastle last month, then it was probably going to be his fellow Hungarian Janos Balogh.

Countrymen, no matter what part of the world they come from, like to stick together and, during Laszlo's reign, Balogh just about shaded it in the battle with Marian Kello to be the first-choice goalkeeper.

The 27-year-old, who was signed by Laszlo from Hungarian club Debrecen just over a year ago, was in possession of the gloves earlier this season only for an injury sustained against Hamilton in December to open the door for Kello.

The Slovakian grabbed his chance and was outstanding in Laszlo's last game in charge – a 1-1 draw with league leaders Rangers at Ibrox – making Jim Jefferies' decision easy as far as the goalkeeping position was concerned after he arrived back at the club.

Kello, in fact, looked set for a sustained run in the team until he fractured a wrist in training last week, giving Balogh the opportunity he'd been waiting for as he sat patiently on the bench.

And, just as Kello had done when the glove was on the other hand, he seized it, helping Hearts to a third-successive win as they overcame the sending off of Larry Kingston and the loss of two central defenders through injury to beat Aberdeen 1-0 at Pittodrie last Saturday.

A month after Laszlo's exit, Balogh is still reluctant to talk too much about his fellow countryman, having respected him and his methods during the relatively short time they worked together in the Capital.

But, along with the rest of his team-mates, he's moved on from what happened to the former manager and is determined to help Jefferies' side, first and foremost, to secure their place in the top six and then, over the final few weeks of the season, give themselves a crack at climbing above the likes of Motherwell, Dundee United and, who knows, perhaps even Hibs.

"For me, it (Laszlo's departure] was not hard," said Balogh. "When Csaba was manager, my only thought was to train hard every day and it's exactly the same now that Jim Jefferies is in charge. I don't think too much about who is the manager.

"Of course, I was waiting for my opportunity under Jim Jefferies and was delighted to get it. Sometimes you are on bench and you've got to wait. When you get that chance you have to play well and try and hold on to your place.

"I was so happy that we won the game against Aberdeen and it was even better that it meant we had won three games in a row for the first time this season. We put in a good performance with ten men and it was a big victory for us."

Due to the luck Hearts were dealt at Pittodrie – Dawid Kucharski and Marius Zaliukas had both gone off injured before Kingston was shown a straight red card in the second-half – Jefferies admitted he'd made more positional changes in that game than any other in his 20-odd year career in management.

But, as he watched team-mates moving about the park – David Obua, for instance, ended up at left back after starting the game up front – Balogh insisted he was concentrating on his own job and was delighted to keep a clean sheet on his return to the side.

"It (the changes] was not so strange for me," he added. "I tried to keep my concentration and keep out any shots that Aberdeen got on my goal.

"I was pleased that I managed that and it was a very good goal that won the match for us at the other.

"I think if Eggert Jonsson had scored it in the Premier League in England you would see it being replayed a month from now – it was a very special goal. Our confidence should be high now after winning three games in a row. It's a tough thing to do in the Scottish Premier League, even for Celtic and Rangers.

"We must try to maintain this level of performance and hopefully keep going up and up."

While Jefferies, Billy Brown and Gary Locke have implemented their own training ideas over the past few weeks, Balogh says it's been pretty much business as usual for him and the other Hearts goalkeepers. "For us it is not much different because our goalkeeping coach, Arturas Ramoska, is the same, so we are doing the same things as we did when Csaba was here," he noted.

"For outside players it is maybe different as every manager has his own ideas about training but for me it is the same.

"I don't want to say anything about Csaba's work because I liked to work with him but, equally, I also like working with Jim Jefferies."

On Sunday, Hearts face Dundee United at Tannadice, where Balogh saved a penalty from Francisco Sandaza as the Gorgie side won by a single goal almost exactly a year ago thanks to a second-half strike from Michael Stewart.

"That was a good memory for me but every game is a new one," said the lanky Hearts goalkeeper.

"It is going to be a hard game but I think we have a good team and we can win.

"In football you never know what is going to happen but we will try and do our best.

"Of course we want to be in the top six and then maybe finish fourth or event third. But we have a lot of tough games coming up.

"Due to our injury situation, I will probably have different players in front of me for this game (on Sunday] but I think we can organise ourselves so don't see that being a problem.

"I want to keep the jersey for as long as I can and, while I know we have a game against Hibs coming up – I don't think about that just now as it is too far away.

"We have to concentrate on the next game."