Gary Mackay: Wallace consistency is key to Hearts surge

IF Carlsberg did perfect weekends ... It's not often a Hearts win coincides with such high-profile defeats for both Hibs and Celtic, so needless to say it was a real treat for all the Jambos who were at Tynecastle on what was a glorious sunny day. At full-time our PA announcer Scott Wilson also made a big deal of the fact St Mirren got beat, with reference to a certain game in 1986, just to add to the sense of fun.

With all those results coming together, it certainly made for an extra buzz about Tynecastle. I've not seen the place like that for a while.

It's amazing how we are as football fans. We have amazing passion for our own team, but we also take great pleasure from seeing the misfortune of our bitterest rivals. You don't want to become obsessed with your rivals getting beat but it's nice to milk it on the rare occasions when results like these do come along.

If that wasn't enough cause for celebration, my younger cousin, David Swan, who is a staunch Hearts supporter, also had the added bonus of backing the winner of the Grand National.

On a more serious note, though, Celtic going out of the Cup and Hibs losing so heavily later in the day proved once again that if you're not prepared both individually and collectively for games then you won't get the rewards. We've found that out to our cost a few times recently against Motherwell and Rangers. However, if we continue to prepare properly and defend as we did on Saturday, then there's a real opportunity for us to think we can maybe finish higher than sixth.

Saturday's game was a slightly hard one to analyse properly because I felt Kilmarnock were a poor side, but nonetheless it was a very professional performance from Hearts. Poor Andrew Driver was very unfortunate in that he pulled up with another injury, but it just shows the quirks of football that we scored the only goal of the game at a time when he was off the pitch and we were down to ten men.

Both the players I represent – Lee Wallace and Ruben Palazuelos – continue to show the type of consistency we've come to expect from them. It's funny because when I hear the man-of-the-match awards getting announced at the end of games, it seems Ruben and Lee are always getting overlooked. Is that because those two players give the same high level of performance week in, week out? If it is, then that's testimony to them as professionals, but it's maybe a disappointment to them personally that they're not getting acknowledged for their performances because they produce such good, solid displays so regularly.

Lee, in particular, has shown an incredible level of consistency this season considering there have been times when the team has underperformed. This is absolutely no disrespect to Csaba Laszlo, but I think he's got even better under Jim Jefferies and Billy Brown in the past few months. As a young boy he was always an attacking left-sided player, so to have performed so well at centre-back in recent games just highlights the growing maturity of the lad.

I thought Ian Black and Larry Kingston kept the ball well in midfield, but, in the five remaining games, I don't think they'll be allowed as much time to play because Kilmarnock were very poor. I was very disappointed with them and you worry about their chances of avoiding relegation because they certainly look to be in a bit of a downward spiral at the moment.

Another one who caught the eye was David Templeton. I used to do the speedball and I think it would be good to see the likes of Temps and Gary Glen and a few of the other youngsters give it a bash to try and bulk themselves up. David's a naturally-gifted footballer with tremendous ability and if he can add the type of upper-body strength that he would get from hitting the speedball, then we could really see him kick on because I was very impressed with him when he came on.

Nade tries new shooting boots

I'M sure most people at Tynecastle on Saturday noticed the pink and lavender footwear sported by Christian Nade.

I watched the Real Madrid v Barcelona game later that night only to find that a certain Cristiano Ronaldo was wearing the same boots. At least the two of them have something in common ..

McInnes and Elvis make mark

THE experienced managers like Walter Smith, Craig Brown and Jim Jefferies have had their fair share of praise lately –but I think a couple of the SPL's up-and-coming bosses deserve a wee mention.

Steven Pressley's only been in charge of Falkirk for a short period of time and his team may yet get relegated but big Elvis has done an excellent job so far and has built up a real bit of momentum. I certainly wouldn't bet against the Bairns staying up.

And as for Derek McInnes, what he's achieved with St Johnstone has been nothing short of outstanding!