Sat 09 Aug 08
Falkirk 0
Rangers 1
Goal

By Andrew Dickson

ANDRIUS VELICKA'S signing for Rangers comes just five years after he found himself playing league football in Kazakhstan.

Indeed, the 29-year-old  has taken time to flourish and it seems apparent he is one of football's late developers.

He began his career with his hometown team FBK Kaunas in 1996 but never made much impact initially at the Dariaus Ir Gireno Stadium.

When Rangers played the then Lithuanian champions in a pair of Champions League qualifiers in 2000, Velicka was a substitute for both games.

The striker came on for the last 25 minutes of the first match and helped the Baltic team to a 0-0 home draw.

But he watched from the sidelines as Gers won the second leg 4-1 in Glasgow, with goals from Allan Johnston and Jorg Albertz and a Billy Dodds' brace making the difference.

Loan spells followed for Velicka, firstly at Russian side Anzhi Makhachkala - who were beaten 1-0 by the Light Blues in a UEFA Cup tie seven years ago - and Irtysh Pavlodar.

That latter deal took the forward to the Kazakh Super League but his time there ended in disappointment as he failed to score in any of his 12 appearances.

Velicka recovered superbly and by the time he left Kaunas for a third time in September 2006 to go temporarily to Hearts, he had scored more than 100 goals for FBK.

He was one of several Lithuanian players taken to Tynecastle by the Jambos' owner Vladimir Romanov and proved to be the most successful over time.

Velicka's first four games for the Edinburgh club passed without incident but in his fifth, he announced his arrival in style.

Finding themselves 2-0 down to city rivals Hibernian at Easter Road, Hearts looked to be heading to a third consecutive away league defeat at the venue.

Cue Velicka, who struck either side of the interval to secure a 2-2 draw and make himself an instant hero in the maroon half of the capital.

Hibs weren't the only team in green the international hitman made a habit of scoring against in nearly 18 months with the Jambos.

While he also notched a derby winner in January, Velicka netted four times against Celtic and it was his double at Parkhead that knocked them out of last season's CIS Cup.

Rangers fans are accustomed to seeing him strike against their team too and Hearts' last two goals at Ibrox - both in 2-1 defeats - came from the striker.

In total, Velicka scored 25 times for the Tynecastle team and was a key player for them when he moved on just four months ago.

As such, the location of his next team was a somewhat surprising one. While there was rumoured interest in him from the English Championship, he went to Norway instead.

Viking Stavanger were able to lure him to Scandinavia, with Hearts receiving £1million for his services having acquired his registration permanently by then.

Velicka struck on his debut - a 3-2 defeat to Ham-Kam in April - after signing a four-year contract with the Uwe Rosler's men.

But it was the impression he made during his first stay in Scotland that has resulted in Walter Smith making the forward his second signing of the summer for Gers.

His ability to score important goals against leading teams is what made him stand out and fans will now hope he can do the same thing at Ibrox after agreeing the biggest deal of his career.