Hit man Velicka making mark in Scotland

Last updated : 03 December 2007 By Scott The Jambo

The Lithuanian contingent at Hearts might not be everyone's cup of tea and even some of the Hearts fans have been rather vocal in giving their opinions on "squad fillers" brought in and shoe-horned into the team for no apparant reason.

However there can be little doubt that in Andrius Velicka they have unearthed a genuine natural goalscorer.

Despite still not being considered a first pick in the Tynecastle rotation policy, the Lithuanian has already netted 5 league goals this season, the latest coming on Saturday against Celtic.

Velicka has proved to be the scourge of Celtic and Hibs

The Bhoys must be sick of the sight of Velicka, who came on as a sub and dumped them out of the CIS Cup at Parkhead with two goals in the last 10 minutes.

Luckily for the Jambos, rumoured interest from CSKA Moscow and also from Serie A amounted to nothing in the summer and the striker returned to Tynecastle after a brief break to continue where he left off, by hitting the back of the net.

While Christian Nade continues to lead the Hearts attack, many fans now feel that Velicka has done more than enough to justify a starting place. The only question marks are about his fitness, and whether he is as effective in the starting 11 as he is coming off the bench.

Nevertheless, you have to wonder how many goals he would score if he were playing for the Old Firm. Kris Boyd is hardly a beacon of light in terms of fitness either however he is prolific enough to justify a starting place. The same could be said of Velicka.

He has good pace, can head the ball, and knows where the back of the net is. He's scored against Celtic 4 times, Hibs 3 times and Rangers once. He was also Hearts top goalscorer last season despite only playing about half the matches.

You wouldn't bet against him hitting the 20 goal mark this season - and maybe even one in a cup final.