Saulius Mikoliunas will discover in the coming weeks whether the quality of mercy from the Scottish football public is too strained for him ever to play here again but the disgraced Lithuania player was given a plea from the heart yesterday by his former colleague, Edgaras Jankauskas.

The former Heart of Midlothian striker believes that Mikoliunas was lucky that Scotland won their Euro 2008 group B qualifying tie despite the Tynecastle midfield player’s blatant dive that earned the penalty that threatened to deprive the hosts of valuable points on Saturday. Jankauskas feels that Mikoliunas could be facing a backlash of the sort that Cristiano Ronaldo attracted in England after his part in the dismissal of Wayne Rooney in the 2006 World Cup.

Mikoliunas might even suffer the fate of Ahn Jung-Hwan, the South Korea striker, who was sacked by his Serie A employers, Perugia, after scoring the golden goal that knocked Italy out of the 2002 World Cup finals. Mikoliunas, along with several other of the dozen Lithuanians at Hearts, has already found his own supporters jeering him and his compatriots for poor performances in recent months but his act of deception against Scotland could well single him out among opposition fans in the Clydesdale Bank Premier League.

“I hope the Hearts fans don’t give him a hard time,” Jankauskas, who played as a second-half substitute in the Hampden Park encounter, said. “However, it’s lucky for Miko that Scotland won the game. That’s football, when you are on the pitch, you don’t think about those things. You just think about gaining something for your team and I don’t think he did what he did intentional.

“If there was no contact, in that second you don’t realise that you could kick Scotland out of the tournament. I hope the Hearts fans will be fine with Miko because in the end you did win the game and life goes on. You have a great game to play in France and we wish you good luck.”

Jankauskas, who left Hearts in June after two years at the club following his signing from FC Porto, believes that Scotland can obtain a result in Paris. “Scotland can take something out of the match, why not? We could have taken the points here so why can’t Scotland do it,” the player, who now plays for Larnaca in Cyrpus, said.

“They have shown that already by beating France at Hampden. It will be a different match but they know how to play against the top teams. At the moment, yes, Scotland could qualify. I am sure they will give it 100 per cent and, hopefully, it happens. We will also be doing all we can in our remaining games. You never play to lose and I think we showed that today and we will try our best.

“Scotland played a good game, good football, and can deal with the pressure. You scored a goal in the first half and things were looking bright for you but we managed to get the equaliser, which shows just how football can turn. We even had a chance to score a second, that’s football.”

Another Lithuanian who once earned his living in the Premier League, Andrius Skerla, felt the same optimism. The central defender returned to the country where his daughter was born during his five-year tenure at Dunfermline Athletic, and the stadium where he scored in the 2004 Scottish Cup final, but it was not a happy visit.

“We had a chance after we made it 1-1 but the goal from McManus killed us,” Skerla said. “Scotland have good players and they were patient and waited for their chance. I did not see any signs of panic after we equalised.”

Asked if Scotland could qualify, Skerla replied: “Why not? You have good players who play for teams in the English Premiership and big teams in Scotland. You beat France at Hampden so why not in Paris. Scotland are doing really well now. You have a good young manager and young players who play for him.” And the penal-ty? Skerla just gave a diplomatic response of “it’s difficult to say”.