I went wild when Joe scored winner

Paul Kiddie

JOE HAMILL wrote himself into Hearts folklore with his winner against Rangers last season - now team-mate Mark de Vries is desperate to follow in his footsteps.

The young midfielder became an instant hero with the fans when he slotted home the only goal of the game at Ibrox in May to give the Gorgie outfit its first victory in Govan for eight years.

De Vries was in the crowd that night to cheer on the historic triumph, boss Craig Levein having decided to rest the giant striker for the last two games of the campaign with the Dutchman just one booking away from triggering a suspension which would have carried over into this season.

The visitors made light of the front man’s unavailability, however, to shock their hosts.

It was a memorable moment for Hamill, the kind of experience De Vries has been dreaming of savouring since moving to Tynecastle from Holland two years ago. Now into his third season with the Jambos, the former Dordrecht target man has been the club’s top scorer for the past couple of years.

However, he has yet to find the back of the net against Rangers, never mind figure in a winning team against them.

Now, though, he has the Glasgow giants firmly in his sights as he targets a first starting place of the season after making a scoring comeback from injury against Hibs in last weekend’s Bank of Scotland Festival Cup win at Tynecastle.

"I missed the last two games of last season because I was close to a suspension and the gaffer didn’t want to risk me picking up another booking," he said.

"I went along to Ibrox when we played Rangers in May and was delighted to see Joe score the winner. It was a great victory as they don’t happen very often against the Old Firm.

"I would love to do it again this weekend as I haven’t scored against Rangers in the two years I have been with Hearts - I haven’t beaten them either so it is a great incentive for me."

The goal against Hibs, which came with De Vries’ first touch of the ball after he stepped off the bench to replace teenager Calum Elliot with an hour of the clash gone, brought to an end a frustrating few weeks for the striker.

The Dutch ace had been looking sharp during pre-season but his plans for the new season were thrown into disarray after he was forced to limp out of the friendly against Fulham in July after tearing his hamstring.

He has been a frustrated onlooker since the curtain went up on the Jambos’ SPL challenge with a 1-0 win over Dundee at Dens Park.

Although Graham Weir and Ramon Pereira have done well enough as a strike pairing, there is little doubt Hearts have lacked a real cutting edge without the towering target man.

It hasn’t been easy for De Vries to sit and watch the start of the season from the sidelines and the 29-year-old is therefore determined to make up for lost time on Sunday.

Levein indicated after successfully coming through the Festival Cup encounter that the forward would play at least some part of the weekend showdown with Rangers - and with another successful week’s training under his belt, De Vries is raring and willing to go if called upon.

"It has been a very frustrating period for me," he said. "I had done a lot of work over the summer and felt really fit and then all of a sudden this happened from nowhere against Fulham. Hopefully, though, it is all behind me now. I have been training without any problems and feel fine. I am ready to start the game if that is what the gaffer wants to do."

The availability of the influential De Vries is a huge boost for the Tynecastle side as they strive to underline their ability to mount a meaningful challenge to the domination of the Old Firm.

Levein has worked wonders to steer Hearts into third place for two seasons running but as equally encouraging has been the Gorgie outfit’s recent record against the Glasgow giants.

They will go into Sunday’s live televised clash looking to extend their unbeaten run against Rangers and Celtic to five matches.

Levein labelled last season’s Ibrox triumph as a major step forward in the psychological battle which his players face when tackling the SPL’s big two - and De Vries insists Hearts, this time with home advantage - have nothing to fear against the Light Blues.

"The gaffer had been telling us that we needed to get a win to get the belief we could beat them," he said. "That was an important result for Hearts and meant a lot to everyone. Obviously we will go into the game this weekend with confidence and looking to take the three points from the match.

"But we never go into games thinking we are going to get beaten.

"We are all looking forward to the match and there should be a good atmosphere inside the ground on Sunday.

"But we can’t think about what happened last season - this is a new season and a new team we will be up against.

"Rangers have signed a lot of new players over the summer and will be quite a different team but they will be just as difficult."

Taken from the Scotsman