Pressley is the ace of Hearts as the maroon wave hits Kaunas

IN entirely fitting circumstance, perhaps even driven by fate, Steven Pressley will stride proudly into the history books in the St Darius & St Girenas Stadium tomorrow evening as a plethora of Jambos look on.

Craig Gordon, Paul Hartley, Saulius Mikoliunas, Deividas Cesnauskis, and possibly Robbie Neilson and Marius Zaliukas too, will line up on the pitch when Lithuania entertain Scotland. Jim Stewart, Hearts' goalkeeping coach, fulfils the same obligations with the national team and as such will take his place in the visitors' dugout.

In the directors' box to take in a match with an increasingly dominant maroon tint will be Vladimir Romanov, wife Svetlana and son Roman. Liutauras Varanavicius, president of the Lithuanian FA and a former Tynecastle director, should be seated not too far away. Yes, Kaunas seems to become more of a Hearts stronghold with every passing day.

So what better an arena, other than perhaps Tynecastle itself, to become the record cap holder for the club.

When Bobby Walker made his 29th and final appearance for Scotland in a 1-0 defeat by England at Stamford Bridge in April 1913, he wouldn't have countenanced the notion that he was setting a landmark which would be unsurpassed for 93 years.

If Pressley plays against Lithuania tomorrow in European Championship qualifying Group B he betters Walker, arguably one of the most gifted players ever to play for Hearts, by winning his 30th international cap.

Neilson, for one, will look on in awe. Having been omitted from Walter Smith's matchday squad for Saturday's lashing of the Faroe Islands, the full-back will consider it something of a minor milestone in his own career if he can secure a seat on the Scotland bench for the first time. Regardless of where in the 15,000 capacity stadium he is situated, Neilson can expect to hear the thumping of Pressley's heart as he is welcomed into Gorgie folklore.

"He loves playing for Scotland and if he does get this record I'm sure he won't want to stop there. He'll want to go on and get even more caps," says Neilson of his club captain. "He had another really good game on Saturday so I don't see why he wouldn't be involved again from the start on Wednesday.

"It would be fantastic for Elvis and he would deserve it. He's been a great servant to Hearts and it would be great recognition for him and for the club. I think he was in his late 20s before he played his first game at international level. He's been looking after himself this season and I've no doubt he has another couple of years left in him yet."

Since that inaugural international outing at the age of 26, when he replaced Paul Ritchie in a 2-0 friendly defeat by France at Hampden in March 2000, Pressley has been involved in some of the national team's most monumental victories of recent times: One-nil against Holland; 2-1 versus Norway in Oslo; 3-0 against Slovenia in Celje. He also played in Scotland's only previous visit to the home of FBK Kaunas three years ago, also a European Championship qualifier.

"I remember that game well," says Stewart, who was on Berti Vogts' backroom staff at the time. "We lost 1-0 through a dubious penalty when Jackie McNamara pulled their guy down [Darius Maciulevicius]. But Lithuania have made great progress of late. They beat Poland 1-0 in Poland and won 2-1 in Albania earlier this year so it's not an easy fixture by any means.

"I've been involved in plenty banter in the Hearts dressing room about this game.

"Marius Zaliukas is newer to us but Saul and David have been quite funny about it and after their result against Italy it puts a real edge to Wednesday's game.

"If nothing else, the Hearts boys involved want to make sure they get the upper hand."

For Pressley, then, the match is of triple importance. Winning should be considered a must if Scotland are to seriously challenge France, Italy and Ukraine for a place at Euro 2008, becoming your club's record cap holder is an achievement never to be forgotten and no-one in either the Scotland or Lithuania camp would wish to trudge back in to Riccarton later this week having been condemned to defeat by their club-mates. The Lithuanian FA predicts an attendance record for the St Darius & St Girenas Stadium tomorrow as a consequence of the country's 1-1 draw in Naples, Lithuania's most celebrated result ever, which saw Mikoliunas deliver his most astute international performance to date.

Kaunas' record attendance stands at 8300 from Liverpool's visit there in last year's Champions League qualifying rounds, but the Tartan Army's invasion is expected to beat that.

It seems Wednesday will be a night when records are there to be broken. In Kaunas and in Gorgie.

Taken from the Scotsman