Steve delighted that Hearts can bank on him

PAUL KIDDIE

STEVE BANKS is preparing to hand back the goalkeeping gloves to Hearts No.1 Craig Gordon despite playing a blinder as the Jambos stretched their unbeaten start to the season to ten games against Celtic. The Englishman made his first start for the club in the top-of-the-table showdown in the absence of the suspended Scotland internationalist and proved himself a more than capable understudy.

Far from being the weakest link as many observers had assumed prior to the match, the 33-year-old pulled out the stops to help his side retain their three-point lead at the top of the table.

After an understandably nervous start, Banks made fine saves from Alan Thompson and Paul Telfer but his second-half effort from Shaun Maloney's free-kick was the pick of the bunch.

While he described Saturday as the "proudest moment of my career", the former Bolton, Gillingham and Blackpool keeper is preparing himself for bad news when boss George Burley reads out the team sheet for this weekend's visit to Tynecastle of struggling Dunfermline Athletic.

"It was a great experience on Saturday, most enjoyable," said Banks, whose only other top-team outing came against Falkirk in the wake of Gordon's first-half dismissal against John Hughes' side.

"It was a good result for us and we maybe could have won it with a couple of the chances we had. But Celtic also had opportunities when they threw the big guns up front and put the pressure on towards the end so overall we have to be quite pleased with the result.

"From a personal point of view it was pleasing to make a couple of good saves and to help keep our undefeated run going was particularly satisfying. It's probably the proudest moment of my career as I came into the game having sat on the bench for almost the whole season up until now.

"It's pleasing to have come into the team and to do the job asked of me. Hopefully I have shown everyone what I can do.

"Who knows about this weekend? Craig has done nothing wrong to deserve to be left out. I'm here to help him along and to assist the younger keepers.

"Hopefully my display at Parkhead proved that I am worthy of being at Hearts and I can do the job asked of me."

He added: "The fans didn't know anything about me when I arrived and that's fair enough. Hopefully in the game and a bit which I have played I have shown that if I am needed again at some stage in the season people will have confidence that I can slot into the team and do well."

Burley's side once again demonstrated their never-say-die attitude against the Hoops, Rudi Skacel pouncing just three minutes after Craig Beattie had given the hosts a first-half lead.

The Jambos had their chances to win but in the end headed back to the Capital more than happy having again defied those who tipped them to stumble against the Old Firm.

"When we faced Rangers at home we were quite a few points ahead of them. But Celtic were on a bit of a roll and went into the game knowing they could draw level with us at the top of the table with a victory," said Banks.

"That's what made it such a good result for us.

"We went behind to a shot that took a nasty deflection and spun into the top corner. We have shown our character all season and the way we came back against Celtic proves again what a great team spirit there is at Tynecastle at the moment.

"There is a great bunch of lads at the club and the manager is getting the best out of us.

"That's us top of the league with the first quarter almost over and we can hold our heads high as we are there on merit.

"When we played Rangers everybody was querying if we could do it. They said the same at the weekend before the Celtic match.

"We proved we could and I think things are looking good for the rest of the season."

Banks was on the verge of signing for Celtic a few years ago but insisted he has no regrets at missing out on a chance to move to the Glasgow giants.

"I have no regrets at not joining Celtic," he said. "You have to go by the decisions that are made and play your best hand.

"I'll never know what may have happened had I joined Celtic but I'm more than pleased with the way things have gone in my career.

"Things happen for a reason and when one door closes, another one opens.

"I am lucky to be at such a big club which is doing so well and I'm very thankful.

"I had the chance to play in the Premiership down south and ended up playing just the one game there for Bolton Wanderers. Things didn't work out as well as I hoped at Bolton with a new manager coming in with new ideas.

"But this is another chance for me at that sort of level."

The much-travelled Englishman thought he had seen it all in a career which had spanned 406 matches prior to Parkhead but the frenzied atmosphere as the sides kicked off took his breath away.

The experienced shot-stopper played in front of a capacity Wembley Stadium when Bolton lost out in the play-offs to Watford in May, 1999 but the noise as the top two teams in the SPL locked horns will live with him for a long time.

"It was a massive game for us. I had talked before about playing in front of 70,000 fans at Wembley Stadium but I have to say that didn't match the atmosphere at Parkhead at the weekend," he said.

"In that play-off final there were 35,000 supporters shouting for each side and not the 58,000 or so shouting for the one team on Saturday.

"I couldn't hear myself think for the first 30 seconds or so and could not get any instructions out to the guys in front of me.

"It all added up to what was a terrific occasion and one I really enjoyed."

Taken from the Scotsman