| Jim Jefferies admitted to having continuing concerns over his defence after Motherwell exposed the club's recent transfer policy. Jefferies saw his attempts to sign a left-back come to nothing earlier this month while the return of midfielder Rudi Skacel appeared thrust upon him from above. The wisdom of those decisions was called into question when Motherwell winger Chris Humphrey brilliantly laid on goals for Nick Blackman and John Sutton in an ultimately convincing 2-0 win at Tynecastle. Skacel returned to Hearts action in the 57th minute to a far more enthusiastic reception than the one offered by the pragmatic Jefferies when he confirmed his signing nine days earlier. Before Skacel's signing, Jefferies had tried to sign Tony Capaldi on a short-term deal to cover for Lee Wallace, who will be out until the end of the year with a knee injury. But the released Cardiff left-back speculated that Hearts owner Vladimir Romanov had blocked the deal after he failed to hear back from an initially keen Jefferies. More obstacles have been placed in the way of Jefferies with captain and centre-back Marius Zaliukas not allowed to play due to an impasse over contract talks. Midfielder Adrian Mrowiec deputised alongside Ismael Bouzid. The result was that Hearts were exposed at the back, although Jefferies left out one of his first-choice defenders, Darren Barr, after a poor display at centre-back in the 4-3 cup defeat by Falkirk. Jefferies is likely to restore Barr at right-back in the coming weeks but there is no immediate solution to his other defensive problems. Jefferies said: "I still think the best back four I've got is Barr, Bouzid, Zaliukas and Wallace. Bouzid is half the player he is without Zaliukas because Zaliukas keeps him right. We would be fine with that four. I tried to sort out the left-back situation a couple of weeks ago with you-know-who but couldn't. Eggert is not a natural left-back. Ruben has played there and did his best. We'll have to persevere with what we've got. The Zaliukas situation, there will be more talks next week and hopefully Lee Wallace gets back quicker than we hope." |