HEARTS striker Graham Weir became an instant hero when he dashed Hibernian's hopes of a rare Tynecastle win with an injury-time brace in January 2003, but he admits those scenes seem like a distant memory.

The pint-sized hitman is currently on loan at Queen of the South and is preparing for a career away from Gorgie when his contract expires this summer.

Weir would give anything to be playing for Hearts in tomorrow's Scottish Cup semi-final clash with Hibs but the fans have not forgotten the contribution he made on 2 January 2003.

The marksman wrote himself into derby folklore when he sensationally came off the bench to score two injury-time goals and earn Hearts a 4-4 draw in what was one of the greatest ever escapes witnessed at Tynecastle.

The 21-year-old's double saw him become a hero overnight but, instead of preparing to line-up before 50,000 at Hampden this weekend for the all-Edinburgh cup tussle, the striker will today turn out for Queens against Ross County.

He said: "As soon as I scored those goals the first thing that I realised was that the fans started noticing me. It was kind of weird to begin with but it was also nice.

"I will be going through to the game, although it's one of these games that you wished you were still at the club for but there have been a few like that this season to be fair."

With First Division Queen of the South part-time, Weir still regularly trains with the rest of the Hearts players at their state-of-the-art Riccarton training academy and he insists everyone is focused on the clash with Hibs.

"The place is buzzing at the moment. It's a chance for someone else to become a hero and if the new players don't realise how big a game it is yet, they will do come Sunday."

Taken from the Scotsman