BARRY ANDERSON
AT one point last month it seemed only clubs at the pinnacle of European football were yet to declare an interest in Hearts winger Andy Driver, so extensive was his reported list of suitors during the transfer window. Lee Wallace believes it won't be long before the crème de la crème are flocking to Tynecastle to assess his prodigious colleague.
The January window passed with Driver still in Edinburgh despite interest from a host of UK and continental clubs. Wild horses couldn't have dragged him to Dynamo Kiev, even for all the Ukrainian hryvnia under the sun, but more alluring destinations are likely to transpire with time.

Saturday's performance at Tynecastle exemplified the kind of domineering form which has attracted so much attention. Driver and Wallace tormented the right side of Falkirk's defence with their instinctive combination of overlapping wing play and magical ball skill. That international defenders Jackie McNamara and Darren Barr became embroiled in a first-half argument over how to combat the pair merely stands as evidence of the trouble caused.

The only disappointment for Driver and Wallace would have been the lack of a killer touch to round off one of their foraging moves, but clearly their partnership has plenty to offer Hearts as they focus on European qualification after going out of the Scottish Cup.

Wallace knows time never stands still in football, and to that end he is determined to enjoy his on-field development in tandem with Driver having just recently lost Christophe Berra to Wolves. He also believes his colleague's form will not continue unnoticed in boardrooms around the globe, and that it is only a matter of time before the game's powerhouses are hovering around Tynecastle. "I had a good partnership with Christophe, as a friend and as a team-mate. Perhaps even more so as a friend," said Wallace. "I wish him all the best and it's the same situation with Driver. We've joked about it because I've said in the past that I want him to stay. But, at the end of the day, if he continues playing the way he is playing, every team in the world is going to be after him.

"He is a big, big player for us. If the chance came I'm sure he would take it. That's something I'd just have to deal with as well.

"As a partnership Driver and I are getting better every week and that's what we're both aiming for. It's disappointing it never came to anything and we couldn't deliver a final product against Falkirk. It would have been nice to go in 1-0 or 2-0 up at half-time to take the pressure off a bit. We didn't get going that well in the second half but I'm more than happy to support Driver and get forward whenever I can. You can see he is a huge threat no matter who he's playing against."

The summer transfer window is expected to bring interest from clubs with genuine magnetism for Driver, such as those in his native England. The prospect of him following Berra south is realistic provided Hearts receive what majority shareholder Vladimir Romanov would consider an acceptable transfer offer. Like Berra, the winger may even opt for a parting prank at those who have mocked the attention coming his way in recent months. "There are always jokes flying around the changing room about teams watching Driver," continued Wallace. "It was the same when Christophe was here because those two have been talked about the most. Right before Christophe left he cut up a few folk's socks because he knew they couldn't retaliate as he was off down south. Driver and Mikey Stewart weren't too happy about it."

Given Wallace's own form this season – he has enjoyed a renaissance under the tutelage of manager Csaba Laszlo – his omission from George Burley's Scotland squad for this week's gathering at St Andrews could be regarded as surprising. The national team is hardly blessed with a posse of quality left-backs but the player himself remains pragmatic about the situation and stresses that, at 21, time is on his side.

"I just have to wait for my chance like any young player," he said. "My main focus is to do well for Hearts, and if you are playing well at club level then you never know what can happen on the international scene. I'm delighted to have been part of the under-21 squad, I'm very grateful for that opportunity.

"I played at age-levels below that in European Championship finals and World Cups, but I'm happy playing for Hearts every week. If I was given the chance (with Scotland] it would be a huge honour and I'd give it everything, but I just have to wait for now."

Wallace is busy retraining his focus to league matters this week after Hearts' Scottish Cup elimination, but he took confidence from the performance against Falkirk. "We got into the dressing-room after the game and I listened to the manager talking. Kari, Robbie, Bruno and Mikey were all saying that the most disappointing thing was losing on a performance like that. I'm sure we've played a lot worse than that and won games. That was the major disappointment, and the chances we created would have been scored on another day. Now we're out the Cup.

"A lot of folk said that if we played that way every week then we would win most games.

|That's all we can do – look to the future, start winning games and concentrate on the league now.

"The main emphasis is to learn from Saturday's defeat. Once we're back in training the manager sits us down and talks to us, along with the more experienced players, and everything gets back to normal on the training pitch. We'll get a good week behind us and look ahead to Aberdeen now."

Taken from the Scotsman