WHEN Kilmarnock travel to Tynecastle on Saturday it won't just be the two teams that are going head-to-head with Gary Locke admitting that the Hearts supporter in him and his professionalism will also come into conflict.

Self-confessed Jambo Locke would ordinarily like nothing more than to see Hearts pip Rangers for a place in the Champions League next season. But herein lies Locke's dilemma - Killie's participation in the UEFA Cup next term is dependent on Rangers clinching second spot in the SPL and Hearts winning the Tennent's Scottish Cup.

The latter holds no worries for the former Tynecastle captain, who will be among the army of Hearts fans that will descend on Hampden for the match, just as he did for their semi-final thrashing of Hibs.

Hearts, of course, beat Kilmarnock on the way to the Scottish Cup final edging them out 2-1 in the third round in January thanks to goals from Steven Pressley and Jamie McAllister. And Locke insisted that for probably the only time in his life he will be looking for Hearts to lose even when he isn't in direct opposition to them for the remainder of the SPL with his loyalties lying firmly in Ayrshire.

"If Hearts finish second then fourth place isn't any good to anyone," he said.

"Hearts are looking strong at the moment but we need to look for them to lose a few games and for Rangers to catch them.

"It's just one of these things. Everybody knows about the way I feel about Hearts but I'm a professional footballer and I play for Kilmarnock so I want what's best for them.

"Usually, I look out for the Hearts results hoping they win whereas at the moment it's the reverse. But Kilmarnock pay my wages so it's them my loyalty is with.

"All we can do is look after ourselves and after that we will look out to see how things are going in the fight between Hearts and Rangers."

Kilmarnock's push for fourth spot has been severely dented in recent weeks with back-to-back defeats by Hibs and Celtic.

Locke, who has only been able to command a place on the bench in recent weeks, is hoping to get the nod to start this weekend in a bid to halt their losing run.

And with only five games remaining he is well aware that any more dropped points will cost his side their chance of an unexpected foray into Europe next term.

"The main thing this weekend is that we get a win because we've had a bad couple of weeks in terms of results," he said.

"We need to get back on track as we are right on the tails of Hibs and in with a decent chance of finishing in fourth place.

"Tynecastle is a hard place to go to, particularly with the way they are playing just now, but we are definitely capable of winning there.

"I didn't think we played that well against Hibs and the manager said that afterwards, too. That was disappointing as it was probably one of our biggest games of the season yet it was one of our most disappointing performances.

"To be 1-0 up and throw it away in the last ten minutes was hard to take and then we lost to Celtic at the weekend although I think the scoreline flattered them a bit.

"We didn't take our chances in the game and they did and that's something we have to fix this weekend at Tynecastle as we may not get too many opportunities.

"If we can get a result it will put pressure on Hibs who are through at Celtic on the Sunday. That's a difficult game for them and if they go there knowing we've won it will make it even harder.

"We still believe we can get fourth. We've had a good season already getting into the top six but we can make it a really great season if we can end up fourth.

"At the start of the season we were being tipped for relegation so we have already exceeded all expectation. But we don't want to rest on our laurels now when there is the chance to do even better.

"We have five games left and if we can win the majority of them then we'll have a good chance."

The Hearts connections at Kilmarnock run far deeper than just Locke with Gary Wales and Allan Johnston also enjoying stints in the Capital while the management team of Jim Jefferies, pictured below, and Billy Brown helped guide Hearts to their last piece of silverware when they lifted the Scottish Cup back in 1998.

Locke believes that most of the credit for Kilmarnock's fine form this season should go to the duo who have been forced to cut costs at the Rugby Park club and work on a shoe-string budget.

And he backed calls for Jefferies to be rewarded for the work he has done by being named Manager of the Year.

"I've been with Jim at a few clubs so I know exactly what he can do and he's proved that again with Kilmarnock this season. If you look at the budget he's had compared to a lot of other teams he's done great. It's not just him of course, it's Billy Brown as well, and they both deserve enormous credit. They work really well together and they've proved all the critics who were tipping us for relegation wrong.

"That's probably been one of our biggest motivations this season, actually, as no player or manager wants to hear that they are supposedly going to get relegated.

"I think the Kilmarnock fans recognise everything they've done for the club and I think Jim would definitely be a worthy winner of the manager of the year.

"I'm sure, though, that he would much rather see the club get into Europe than win something like that although it would be great if both of them came our way.

"A win at Tynecastle on Saturday wouldn't hinder either of those aims although Jim's a Hearts man, too, I'm sure nothing would make him happier than all three points leaving with us."

Taken from the Scotsman