Tony Mowbray admits that neither he nor his players will go in to Sunday's Clydesdale Bank Premier League clash with Hearts overburdened by preparation.

The Hoops are in the midst of a hectic period of the season in which the players have to juggle the demands of international football, Europa League action and domestic duties.

"I haven't had much chance to study Hearts to be fair," Mowbray said. "We have been looking at Hapoel over the last week and Dundee United before that so we have one day to prepare the team. But you can't complain about it."

He added: "If you have international footballers and you are playing in European competitions you have to get on with it, you can't have it both ways.

"If we get a positive result against Hearts we will still be unbeaten in the League.

"Then we will be looking forward to next Wednesday night against Falkirk in the Co-operative Insurance Cup, and then back to league action then another Europa League game - they keep coming.

"It is a fact that we have the players for one day to prepare and we will do that as best we can.

"I need to bed down certain aspects of the style of play and the demands I make of the players and it is difficult to get time on the training field to do that, it's mainly rest and preparation for the next game.

"But it's part and parcel of the game."