Wallace eyes cup glory

The 17-year-old scored the opener for the Tynecastle club in the 3-1 win at Rugby Park, with Lee Miller and Deividas Cesnauskis also scoring before Kris Boyd's consolation from the penalty spot.

Wallace, whose three first team games have bizarrely all been against Kilmarnock in the last 10 days, scored a terrific goal after only five minutes to set the visitors on to a comfortable victory.

Wallace could hardly believe the start to his Tynecastle career and said: "This was better than a dream come true.

"That was my first goal since I went full-time with Hearts two years ago and my mum and dad were in the stands to watch.

"As soon as I got the ball I saw the space and ran into it and it wasn't until I was 10 yards inside their half that a Kilmarnock player came to me.

"But I kept going, I'd seen Dennis Wyness at the edge of the box, played it and got it back and I side-footed it and next thing it was in the back of the net.

"I'd never been to Hampden before to play, I have only been to watch, so hopefully we can go on and win it".

Hearts head coach John Robertson insists Wallace's emergence into the first team recently will give encouragement to his other youth players.

He said: "It was a terrific goal by Lee but more importantly, he has come in and done a great job defensively.

"But he showed he is no slouch getting forward and it was a great 60-yard run.

"It was a tremendous finish because he actually dinked it over the keeper and into the roof of the net so I am sure he will remember that for a very long time.

"But it gives encouragement for a lot of the other youngsters like Calum Elliot and Christophe Berra who was on the bench.

"They are every bit as good as Lee and have as much chance of getting in the team as he has".

Disappointed Kilmarnock manager, Jim Jefferies admits his side struggled after a woeful start to the game which saw them go 2-0 behind after only 13 minutes.

He said: "I am disappointed but I can have no complaints.

"We had a terrible start to the game and lost two goals in just over 10 minutes and you can't afford to do that against a team of the calibre of Hearts.

"I am disappointed with their first goal because their player was allowed to run 50 or 60 yards and we never tracked back.

"And I am not sure their player knew too much about the second goal because it seemed to just come off his head.

"I couldn't fault my players for effort but there's no complaints about the result."