Gary Mackay: Victory over Celtic would be extra birthday present

I CELEBRATED my 47th birthday yesterday and couldn't have asked for a better present than Ryan Stevenson's winning goal the previous day.

The end result was testament to Hearts' resolve and resilience as well as a fair chunk of good fortune as, if I'm being honest, Rangers could have been to out of sight by half-time.

You have to pay great credit to the Ibrox men. When a club loses a player like Kenny Miller, who is a big influence both on and off the park, you would usually expect it to have a negative impact, but it didn't have that effect on Rangers. It wouldn't have flattered them if they were 4-0 up at half-time as they were that far ahead of Hearts. We were totally indebted to Marian Kello to still be in the game. I've spoken many times before about how we seem to have been blessed with great goalkeepers over the years, but Kello really showed his class on Saturday. I noticed he was the man put up to speak to the press before the game and it takes a strong individual to talk about the situation you're involved in and then follow it up with a quality performance in such a big game. If it wasn't for Kello's first-half display, then Stevenson's goal could easily have been a mere consolation.

The ferocious pace that Rangers played with made it hard for Hearts to get any quality of service to our flair players, especially in the first half, but I'm confident that the likes of Rudi Skacel and David Templeton will have a big part to play over the next few games. Having been outplayed in the first half, Hearts finished the game really strongly and that's testament to the players' fitness levels. When you don't have the ball you have to work a lot harder than the team who have the ball and that was certainly the case in the first half. We had to do a lot more chasing and harrying in that period and that can often take the edge off your play later in the game, but, to their credit, Hearts were still going strong right up to the final whistle. That bodes well for our trip to Parkhead on Wednesday, because there will be times when Celtic control possession.

Over the years it's generally been the Old Firm who have benefited from good fortune but this time it was Hearts who rode their luck a bit and emerged with three very valuable points. That win, allied to our hard-fought midweek victory at Kilmarnock, has left Hearts in a really strong position and one which I'm sure most people wouldn''t have expected us to be in at this time last week.

I'm pretty sure that even the most optimistic of Hearts supporters wouldn't have expected us to take six points from those two really tough games. It's set the team up for an unbelievably big game on Wednesday. I wouldn't go looking for a draw, but I think given the fact we've done so well in the last two games, we would probably accept a draw.

Having said that, there's no doubt that we'll need to keep the ball a lot better through there than we did on Saturday, because it's unlikely that we'd be able to ride our luck as much at Parkhead.

With that in mind, I'd be inclined to bring Ian Black back into the side as he is good at keeping possession. If we aren't able to keep the ball for long periods on Wednesday then Celtic could really punish us. I'm not saying we'll win the game on Wednesday but we have certainly showed this season that we are capable of beating any side in the league. I have to say I will be lot more optimistic if Kevin Kyle is fit enough to lead the line. It might just be that Kevin's impact for the season is coming to an end given that he didn't get a proper pre-season under his belt. If that is going to be the case, I'd hope the owner will see fit to sanction the signing of a new striker on loan in an effort to help the management maintain momentum.

I also think the depth of the squad will have to be utilised over the coming weeks to keep things fresh as, even though we've won our last two games, the last couple of performances maybe haven't been as polished as some of those earlier in the run. The manager has been really fair with the players so far as the general consensus seems to be that you don't change a winning team unless you have to. But, considering we are in the midst of a really challenging run of games, my feeling is that he may have to indulge in a wee touch of rotation - with each game taken on its own merits as opposed to considering performances in previous games - as the last thing we need is players burning out or picking up injuries.

We've got Suso back in the fray, Andrew Driver's not far away, Craig Thomson's been flying in training and Ian Black's been a top performer, even though he didn't start on Saturday, so we've definitely got options to mix things up a bit. The management have a greater knowledge than I have about those who are best-equipped for each challenge. There are no better people at managing a squad than Jim Jefferies and Billy Brown and these games will provide another test of their credentials, but I have no doubt they will make the right choices.

With the momentum that's being carried at the moment, people are rushing to compare this side to that of 2005/06, 1998 and 1986, but I think we have to judge the current crop on their own merits and applaud them for what they are achieving. Let's hope we can enjoy this run for a while longer.