Hearts: What better time to turn it all around?

Published on Friday 6 November 2009 10:07

LEE WALLACE says he and his team-mates are relishing tomorrow's derby as a great chance to turn their season around.

• Lee Wallace, pictured with John Rankin of Hibs, during March's Edinburgh derby

Hearts trail Hibs by 11 points in the table but the Tynecastle defender is well aware that the advantage enjoyed by the Easter Road outfit means nothing with the form book usually going out of the window for derby matches.

John Hughes' Hibs side sit in second place in the table after a decent run of form in their opening matches of the campaign but Wallace is determined to eat into the points gap at Tynecastle.

He acknowledges that the Jambos are struggling to rediscover the form of last season, which saw them earn a place in the Europa League qualifers, but reckons there's no better time to get back on track than against Hibs.

He said: "I think that everyone is looking forward to the game – probably more so than usual because we haven't had the best of starts to the season.

"We've not been winning too many games lately so I think that the derby is another added incentive for us to go out and get the right result.

"The points difference doesn't make any difference to us, it wouldn't matter if we were top of the league and Hibs were bottom or the other way around, because you can never predict what is going to happen in a derby game.

"Hibs are doing well right now and they've got an 11-point advantage but that doesn't affect us, we will just go in with the right attitude and a bit of fight.

"We've been working hard in training all week on different things and it is up to us to make sure that we take all of those things we've been doing in training out onto the pitch for the game.

"We've been keeping the goals out at one end and been doing quite well on that front so far so we need to make sure that continues tomorrow and hopefully score a couple of our own at the other end."

"I think that we need to capture the same kind of form as we had last season, I know that we don't have the same players as we did last year because of lot of the boys have gone and we've had a few come in as well, but we need to get that same belief and understanding of what the team is capable of.

"There's no reason why we can't turn things around, get that confidence back and start playing the way that we know we can again.

"We know how we should be playing and, hopefully, by the end of the game on Saturday we will get the right result."

Wallace conceded that he thought Hearts had started to find their feet with the 1-0 Co-operative Insurance Cup quarter-final victory over Celtic at Parkhead last midweek, only to fall back into their old ways in the defeat to Motherwell by the same scoreline at the weekend.

He knows what his side are capable of on their day and firmly believes that they can put the brakes on Hibs' progress tomorrow, but wants to see more consistency.

Wallace added: "When you see what we did at Parkhead, we proved that we can go out and get these kinds of results. It's a massive feat for anyone to go to Parkhead and come away with a result like that.

"It just shows everyone what we are capable of and we have to knuckle down again tomorrow, put in a really good shift against Hibs and hopefully get all three points.

"I think that, if we can beat Hibs, a lot of people, certainly everyone involved with the team, will take a lot of confidence and, if that does happen, then hopefully it can be a turning point for us.

"We probably all thought that the win at Parkhead last week was going to be the major turning point in the season but obviously we then undid all of the good work by losing to Motherwell.

"It's up to us to rectify that as a team and we are going into the derby full of belief that we can win the game."

The Hearts side will be peppered with players who will be getting their first taste of the Edinburgh derby, with Ismael Bouzid, David Witteveen and Craig Thomson all set to face up to Hibs for the first time.

But Wallace is confident that it won't take his team-mates long to settle into the white-hot atmosphere at Tynecastle: "It's the Edinburgh derby at the end of the day. There are a lot of guys who have not played in one before but I am sure that they will adapt quickly to the passion and the atmosphere – we know that Tynecastle will be really noisy, it will be incredible.

"It's all about the players rising to that occasion really and stepping up to the plate. It's about the hunger and the passion and going out there, hopefully getting that bit of luck when we need it and getting the win under our belts.

"These guys will obviously have played in their own derbies in the countries and cities where they were playing their football before they came to Edinburgh but I don't think that it will have been to the extent that they will experience tomorrow.

"I think it will just be natural as a footballer. When you step out onto the pitch in these types of games, into the atmosphere and the noise from the supporters, you realise the importance of the game straight away.

"All of the build-up and the hype surrounding these matches shows you how much it means to people and come the start of the game you are fired up anyway."

Hearts' disappointing start to the season has led to criticism from both their critics and their own supporters but, with barely a quarter of the SPL season gone, Wallace believes that it is too early to write off their chances of once again qualifying for Europe.

He continued: "There have only been ten games played so far but already people are starting to write us off, saying that we won't be able to achieve the same as we did last time.

"But I think that is still well within our grasp, it's just all about finding that turning point and building on it. If we can get a couple of victories under our belts then things could really start to turn around for us quite quickly and a key thing is getting a bit of luck because I really don't think we've had that this season so far.

"Everything that could have gone against us has, but I tend to believe that these things even themselves out over the course of the campaign.

"If all of things come together and we start doing better on the pitch, start doing our jobs properly then there is no reason why we can't go on to equal or even better third position."