Gary MacKay: Don't put kiss of death on such a handsome victory

WHAT a great result! To win 4-0 in your first away game of the season is probably beyond anybody's expectations and, like every other Hearts fan, I'm still buzzing.

It seems like a long time since we won so handsomely, but, for me, it's important that we keep our expectations at a reasonable level. As supporters, we're all prone to getting carried away when a result like Saturday's occurs. But I feel we should keep our expectations simply at having a good season and not rush to set any targets.

In saying that, everyone involved deserves massive credit. We have to remember, whatever people may think of them, we lost four of the higher earners in the club's history over the summer - Stewart, Goncalves, Kingston and Nade - and we've brought in a few new players so there has been a fairly big turnover in personnel in a short period of time.

They fact we've managed to get a result like that so early in the season is absolutely massive and will do wonders for the players' confidence. Considering it is a bit of a new-look squad the management are working with, there will be hiccups along the way. But the important thing is that, as I said last week, the football department are allowed the chance to continue as they've started with this new group of players and then let's see where it takes us.

It's still very early to talk about whether we're going to be challenging the Old Firm or going for third place or whatever. We have to remember that Aberdeen have also had a very good start and will have similar aspirations to ourselves. Maybe about November time, when the league starts to take shape, every club can start to form thoughts about how the season is going to unfold. For me, it's like building a wall and putting in a brick at a time. The wee brick that we've added just now is that we've started the season with four points out of six, which we'd all have accepted at the start of play. We'd probably have expected it to be the other way round, in terms of winning at home and drawing away, but the fact we went away from home, looked solid, created chances and were clinical in our finishing is really encouraging.

For the players, particularly considering there's been a fairly recent managerial change, a result like that gives them confidence that the manager's style is working for them. It also tells them that the players round about them are all working for each other and that develops a real strong spirit. Yes, you have to have good players and good training and all that, but, as we've said so often before, it's imperative that you have a good spirit in the squad and results like Saturday's can only help foster that.

Gary Locke is also of vital importance to that spirit as he will be the member of the coaching staff closest to the players. He's only recently finished up as a player, so he knows exactly how a modern-day dressing-room works and he'll know from his time as a player with Hearts just what it takes to create a harmonious team spirit.

I spoke in depth about Calum Elliot last week and it's full credit to him that he's the one all the Hearts fans have been raving about over the past few days. His performance on

Saturday just proves that confidence is everything for players, particularly strikers. No disrespect to Calum, but he's probably only been given his chance so early in the season as a result of injuries to others. But ironically, the reason I believe he has so far struggled to fulfil his potential at Hearts is down to the fact he's never really had a long enough injury-free spell in his career.

He now has that and if he can stay fit and maintain this form, then, from the squad being very, very poor in attack last year, we will suddenly find ourselves with what could potentially be a very strong pool of strikers. We've got David Obua and Gary Glen out injured, and then the two new boys Kevin Kyle and Stephen Elliott, but at this moment, you would have to say Calum is the number one striker at the club.

His goals and performances in the first two games have been key to giving us a nice solid footing but next Sunday's game against Dundee United will give us a further idea about how things are going to shape up for us.

That game will be a different kettle of fish altogether, when we'll come up against a big side who like to fire balls into the box at every opportunity. I would think there's a fair chance we might start with both Kevin Kyle and Calum in the team because we'll need that extra physical presence.

Regardless of who plays, though, the boys certainly won't be short on confidence after Saturday.