LEE WALLACE pinpoints Hearts' next three fixtures as pivotal to the club's ambitions of European football.
But he is talking not only in the context of finishing third in the SPL. His contention is that second place and a Champions League qualifying spot are well within the realms of possibility.

Kilmarnock visit Tynecastle tomorrow for the first of th ree critical league assignments before the league split, the others being a home meeting with Celtic and a trip to Falkirk. Hearts' intended target is nine points to maintain their challenge for the inaugural Europa League, however a 12-point gap between themselves and second-placed Rangers is not considered insurmountable.

Wallace remembers the anticipation which engulfed Gorgie at this point in the season three years ago, the team eventually reaching the Champions League qualifying rounds and winning the Scottish Cup in their finest campaign in recent memory.

Re-enacting the Champions League chapter of that fairytale would have been viewed as pure story-telling had anyone predicted it even a few weeks ago, but results have conspired in Hearts' favour since then. Wallace sees no reason why that can't continue to do so.

"The manager has stressed the fact that nine points from the next three games is crucial," he told the Evening News. "Everyone in the dressing-room believes that. We have eight games to go and we're aiming to win all of them.

"It's important we stay in third place, and you never actually know what can happen because second could come about depending on results.

"Rangers have suffered a few setbacks but they are a big club. Second is not out of the equation for us but we must keep winning. Anything can happen in Scottish football, for example Rangers could lose a lot of their remaining games, that's what the SPL is like. It would be some story if we did manage to finish second." Daring to dream became all the more permissible following the recent 2-2 draw at Ibrox, a game which saw Hearts prove a point to themselves as well as the rest of Scotland's football community.

"I think the gap is closing," continued Wallace. "That's not necessarily down to Rangers and Celtic doing badly, I just think the other teams are more organised and play with more confidence at Ibrox and Parkhead.

"We will play anybody in the league and not only want to win, but expect to win. That's in our blood now.

"The feel-good factor has stayed with us since the Rangers game and the morale and the banter has been good. The manager has touched on it this week. At the time he wasn't happy because we were 2-0 down at half-time and he made that felt. We improved in the second half and, to a certain extent, it felt like a victory. That's what's happening these days when we go to play Rangers or Celtic. Our aim is to win."

Hearts manager Csaba Laszlo is nearing a full quota of players for tomorrow. He must decide who to deploy in goal, in attack and in midfield from various options that have become available over the international break due to players recovering from injury, but one area he will not tamper with is left-back. Wallace owns that shirt exclusively.

A late decision will be made on whether Janos Balogh can replace Jamie MacDonald, with both nursing niggling injuries. Calum Elliot, Mike Tullberg and Christian Nade are vying for two attacking slots, while several choices exist for midfield with Andy Driver now free of injury. Wallace, though, remains a constant. He has done all season.

Much like Hearts' form under Laszlo, the 21-year-old has been unwavering on the left side of defence and has fully justified the faith shown in him by his superiors. Laszlo, a manager known for rearing young players, recognises that Wallace possesses a certain assurance not always guaranteed from others of a similar age.

So dependable have his performances been this season that full international recognition is now the next, not too distant, step for one of the finest products to emerge from Hearts' youth academy since it relocated to Riccarton. The club's legendary goalscorer, John Robertson, endorsed Wallace's Scotland credentials in this newspaper as recently as November when national coach George Burley bizarrely selected Rangers' Kirk Broadfoot at left-back in the friendly against Argentina.

Barring an unforeseen disaster, he will be named in the Scotland B squad for the friendly with Northern Ireland on May 6. The player himself is not so brass as to eulogise his own expertise, but it isn't difficult to deduce from conversation that he is quietly confident of holding his own when the international call comes.

"I'm delighted I'm playing every week because you just grow in confidence," he said. "That's what happened when I first came into the team at 17. Although I was young and inexperienced, I still enjoyed it and got more confident as every game went on. I think that's been the story this season.

"I've had a good run this year and this could end as a good season for me personally. There is not much in the way of competition for left-back. Eggert can play there and there are a couple of young boys. It's a boost, not only for me, but for everybody that the manager likes to develop young players.

"I'd love to be involved in any type of international game. I have to keep doing the right things at club level to give myself a good chance. I haven't played an international since last year with the under-21s so I'd like to get back involved. I'm happy to wait and bide my time.

"I look at Ross McCormack and Steven Fletcher, who have progressed from the under-21s, but I don't look out for my own name at the moment. I'll just keep playing here because you never know what could happen."

Kilmarnock's arrival in Edinburgh evokes memories of their previous match at Tynecastle last October, when Craig Bryson scored the winning goal eight minutes from time in a 2-1 victory. "It hurt losing a goal like that," recalled Wallace. "Losing a late goal to anybody is a killer. I didn't play when we beat them at Rugby Park (in January] but Jim Jefferies always wants to come to Tynecastle and do well. If we play like we did in the second half against Rangers then we can be confident.

"Having last weekend off can only benefit us. It was good to rest the legs and we've had a good week's training this week so we're looking forward to getting back in action.

"It has been a long season, I've played a lot of games but at this point, with eight games to go, the fitness will always be there. Mentally we all need to be prepared for the final run-in."

And, as Wallace says, you just never know what might transpire at the end of such an unpredictable SPL season.

Taken from the Scotsman