THE ONLY WAY WE'LL TOP THIS IS BY WINNING TITLE; Fulton sets final heroes a new target.

Scottish Cup victory sank in for Steve Fulton last night when he realised the only way Hearts will better Saturday is by winning the league.

Sunday, May 17th 1998 will be remembered by the Hearts players and the fans as the day they brought football home to Edinburgh.

You only needed to look up the capital's Princes Street to see how much a long-awaited trophy meant for the success-starved fans.

The last time crowds mobbed the city's main street for a party was at Hogmanay. But yesterday was 36 years of Hogmanays rolled into one for Hearts supporters.

Steve Fulton, who confessed to having done the "drunkest TV interview ever" after Saturday's final, lapped up the event which will put the club in the history books.

And he acknowledged that the only way to top the day would be to go for the highest honour.

He said: "I think the only way we can better this is to win the cup again or win the league.

"I have never experienced anything like this, even when I won the cup with Celtic. You certainly couldn't parade the cup through the streets of Glasgow or there would be riots.

"And I have never been on an open-top bus before. We are a young side and we showed on Saturday what we can do, so we will have to try to do it again.

"It will be harder for the team next year because of what we have achieved. Teams will see us a scalp.

"The league is also very tight. There is not much between the sides. Teams like St Johnstone and Killie are really good and they're improving all the time just like we are.

"This season when I saw who Rangers were buying, I expected them to go on and do what they have been doing for so long and win the league.

"But it doesn't necessarily work that way, so we'll just have to go for it again next year."

The jubilant Hearts players took an hour and a half to travel the three miles between the Royal Mile and Tynecastle as crowds cheered them through the city.

Several bus stops along Princes Street threatened to give way under the weight of young fans as they tried to get a glimpse of their heroes.

Gary Locke, the skipper who missed the final through injury, stood at the front of the bus raising aloft the cup before the players entered Tynecastle.

And Fulton said: "For guys like Gary Locke and Paul Ritchie who are Hearts fans and live around the area, they know the feeling of what this means most.

"We couldn't get Gary off the front of the bus and he was milking it for all it's worth."

Fulton skippered the Hearts side on Saturday in Locke's absence.

And yesterday he revealed why he had to let Locke join him in picking up the cup.

He said: "If Gary had been fit then he would have been there as captain. I said to him that he could come up as well if we won it.

"Afterwards, the players came back here and we had a private party at the stadium.

"I think I did the drunkest TV interview ever after the game, so I will have to go home to watch it."

Tynecastle was virtually full of fans while the team were still 45 minutes away from arriving.

Inside, the chorus of the Hearts song and `We are the Champions' reverberated around the stands as fans did Mexican Waves in the sunshine.

Repeat

Finally, the players came onto the pitch at 3.35pm with Man of the Match Gilles Rousset emerging first.

Locke, who joined his team-mates on a lap of honour with the cup, said: "This is definitely up there as a perfect weekend.

"But now that it has happened I don't really know what to do.

"I have been saying for ages what I would do if we won the cup, but now I am thinking I might stay in and watch Blind Date or something.

"Hopefully next season we can repeat this. It shows the potential of this club.

"Our average gate this season has been around 15,000, the fans have come back in their thousands.

"Everywhere we have been today we've been treated like Lords. I don't think I've bought a pint all weekend.

"It was 1956 when we last won the Scottish Cup, so the 14 of us are legends now. You can never take that away from us.

"Hopefully the pressure is off us a bit now that we've won something, but at the same time there is also other pressure because people expect us now to stay near the top and get to finals."

From the moment John Robertson appeared at the window of the council chambers with the cup, a snake- like procession of maroon flowed through Edinburgh.

Even dogs had Hearts scarves draped around their collars as fans sang and danced in the streets.

Locke said: "The scenes in Princes Street were unbelievable - there was even a Dunfermline supporter cheering us.

"To be fair, the Rangers fans even applauded us off the park on Saturday, so it shows the appreciation for what we've done."

As fans left Tynecastle for the nearest pubs, broken glass and cans littered the streets.

Locke said: "It has been some day, but it will be an even better night."

Perhaps it is a good thing that today is a public holiday in Edinburgh.

Taken from the Daily Record