EVERYONE at Tynecastle was delighted to see the Hearts lads playing such key roles in Scotland's fantastic win against France.

Manager Walter Smith has to be congratulated on his tactics. He got everything spot-on and produced a side that restricted the French to very few goalscoring chances.

If Scotland could now grab another win or even a draw in Ukraine, it really would be the most magnificent start to our Euro 2008 campaign, especially when we went into it with no great expectations.

You will not be surprised to learn the performances of the Jambos in the national team are the ones I watch most closely.

Half the time my heart is in my mouth hoping none of them is hurt.

And, of course, that goes for other internationals as well because we also have the Lithuanian, Greek and Czech boys to think about.

Advertisement
Click Here

Craig Gordon went down early against France with a knock and gave me the fright of my life but, thankfully, he was okay.

We will have another one to worry about tonight when Robbie Neilson is handed his Scotland debut in Ukraine - but I'll be so happy for him.

Robbie is a likeable lad who has worked very hard to get to this level.

He has nailed down the right-back position at Hearts despite serious competition down through the years.

His attitude to football and dedication is first class and the club take great pleasure from seeing someone like him come right through the system at club level to achieve international recognition.

When he was younger he used to work obsessively on his upper-body strength and some days we had to literally chase him out of the gym.

This is a player who went on loan to Cowdenbeath and Queen of the South during his Hearts career so it just goes to show you can be successful even if you have to ply your trade at a lower level for a while.

It is all part of the learning process. Robbie took everything on board and is reaping the benefits now.

When he was playing at the likes of Central Park and Palmerston I'm sure international caps seemed a million miles away but such experiences did him no harm.

When Robbie plays for his country, he won't let anyone down and everybody at Hearts will be cheering him like mad.

On the domestic front, there's a derby game to look forward to this weekend.

This time last season we were on form when we went to Easter Road but Hibs put aspanner in the works by beating us 2-0.

We want a different result this time and when we go back there to face them in the CIS Cup.

Hibs will want to get back on the rails after their recent hiccups against Falkirk and St Mirren and they are well capable of doing that.

My only wish is that all our international players return unscathed.

Annoyingly, they won't return until Friday and that hardly gives you time to prepare them for such a huge match.

Derby matches are the greatest in the world when you win and hellish if you lose.

When you go down the tunnel at full-time with the sound of happy Jambos fans ringing in your ears, you know you have done the business.

Victory means so much to them in terms of bragging rights. They want to go into work on the Monday and be able to slag off their Hibee mates ... for a while at least.

The Edinburgh derby is even bigger news these days because Setanta takes it to a wider TV audience.

Sometimes these fixtures can be blood and thunder affairs because of the passion but let no one doubt there will be two good football teams on the pitch.

We just hope that when the dust settles the fans signing loudest will be the ones wearing maroon.

Taken from the Daily Record