Home games give chance for Europe

12 April 2010 06:30
Nine of a possible 15 points can be delivered from post-split home games and Suso Santana wants to take full advantage Hearts winger Suso Santana wants to take advantage of the three home games he and his team mates will play after the split if they are wanting to play in Europe next season. Closing the six point gap on fourth placed Hibs could take them into the Europa League. The 1-0 win over Kilmarnock on Saturday secured a top-six finish but Suso is not content with that achievement. It was his 32nd-minute goal which won the game at the weekend and he believes Hearts are capable of closing the gap if they manage home wins over Motherwell, Dundee United and Celtic. He said: "We've got 15 points to play for and three games at home and it's a case of trying to get maximum points at home and getting something on the road, and hopefully the others will fall by the wayside and we can catch them up. We are now in the top six but we have to be a top-three club. We should be fighting for third, fourth place. This year we are fighting for sixth but that's not where we want to be. We want to be higher up and that's where we aim to be." Suso was not bothered that owner Vladimir Romanov was watching from the directors' box. This was Romanov's first game at Tynecastle since November 2008 but Suso insists the banker's presence did not provide the side with greater incentive to win. The 25-year-old Spaniard, who struck a low drive into the far corner of the net from the corner of the box after Eggert Jonsson's initial effort was blocked, added: "It does not matter who is sitting in the VIP box. We have to go out and give our best. You don't give more because someone is or is not in the crowd." Suso's goal on Saturday was his fifth of the season and he is bidding to finish the campaign on a high after admitting he lost his way recently when his wife was in the final stages of pregnancy. He said: "I have been playing well and it's pleasing. There was a time when I was not playing as well as I should have been and that coincided with the time my wife was pregnant. But since my baby girl was born, everything has been great and it's pleasing as well that my game is coming along."

Source: FOOTYMAD