HEARTS pair Eduardas Kurskis and Tomas Kancelskis are the latest Lithuanians to head home following an unsuccessful loan period with the club.
Goalkeeper Kurskis, remembered for his howler which gifted Rangers victory at Ibrox in December, and defender Kancelskis are back at FBK Kaunas in time for the beginning of the domestic campaign.
The duo arrived in January 2007 from Kaunas, a clu
b Hearts owner Vladimir Romanov sponsors, but have both failed to make an impact in the first team.
Kurskis made only four competitive appearances this season, with compatriot Kancelskis making just two.
The number of Lithuanians at Hearts has dwindled with striker Ricardas Beniusis having returned home last week and Andrius Velicka's controversial transfer to Norwegian side Viking Stavanger last month. Midfielder Linas Pilibaitis also left after falling woefully short of the standard required in the SPL.
Romanov's much-maligned experiment of using Hearts as a club to showcase Lithuanian players has ultimately proved unsuccessful
although Saulius Mikoliunas, Deividas Cesnauskis, Marius Zaliukas, Audrius Ksanavicius, who have all shown they are capable of plying their trade in the SPL, and Kestutis Ivaskevicius all remain.
A statement from Hearts confirming the departure of Kancelskis and Kurskis read: "Both players were good professionals and we wish them well for the future."
Meanwhile, Hearts midfielder Michael Stewart insists three points and not revenge will be all that is on his mind when Dundee United visit Tynecastle tomorrow.
Craig Levein's charges have beaten Hearts twice in both of the fixtures between the teams this season and travel to Edinburgh looking to cement third place.
Former Manchester United player Stewart said: "Regardless of whether they have beaten us or not it is a big game, we need to win it. Sometimes you can get a little bit hung up on getting revenge and lose focus on what we need to do.
"It is a game we are more than capable of winning. We need to look to pick up all three points."
Hearts now need to rely on Falkirk, who are three points clear in sixth place, slipping up if they are to make the top six following last week's disappointing goal-less draw with the Bairns at Tynecastle. Stewart added: "From a personal and team perspective we cannot ponder on it and we have to look to the United game.
"It may well be out of our hands but all we can do is worry about ourselves. Unfortunately if we win our two games we could possibly not get in to the top six, but all we can do is try to win those two games and hopefully get a favour from somebody."
The full article contains 446 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
