RFS coming to Tynecastle ‘to win’ says skipper

Midfielder Tomas Simkovic has been around the block, and the 35-year-old means business at Tynecastle on Thursday (kick-off 20.00) when RFS visit in UEFA Europa Conference League with the Latvian club ‘s hopes of progressing in the tournament hanging by a thread.

They prop up Group A with two points from four fixtures and are a point behind Hearts who have also played four games. They have struggled to score goals, having only netted one and lost six.

The 2-0 home defeat by the Jambos hurt and Bratislava-born Simkovic (centre), in good English, told the pre-match media briefing (pictured by Nigel Duncan): “I think it will be like it was in Riga. We are well prepared and we know what is waiting for us here in Edinburgh. The stadium is great and we are all looking forward to the game.”

The match comes at the end of the Latvian season which started in March and at a good time as they attempt to get over the disappointment at losing 1-0 in their cup final to Auda earlier this month.

They bounced back to win 4-0 at Super Nova on Sunday in the Latvian Higher League with goals from Jagodinskis, Rakels, Llic and Jatta and the skipper added: “We always go for the win. We wanted to win in Riga (against Hearts) as well.

“All of us wanted to win that game until the end. Tomorrow we have the quality to win and to beat the teams in our group. We have shown it already and we were lucky and sometimes not, but I think that in every game we try to win 100 per cent.

“At this stage and this level of football everybody knows how to deal with pressure and I do not know who has more pressure.”

It is anticipated that RFS will have less than 100 fans in the ground and Simkovic admitted that it would be different for some of the RFS players to play in front of an 18,000-crowd.

The club captain said: “We have shown in the last year that it is no problem for us to play in front of such a crowd and it is even more motivation. It is something special for us as in Latvia there is not so many people watching the football.”