James Wilson reveals Hearts v Rangers favour for teacher he jokes will help schoolboy wonder make the grade

James Wilson’s impressive performances for Hearts have helped him gain pass marks from Neil Critchley. And the schoolboy wonder hopes they can ensure he makes the grade off the park too - after getting his PE teacher a ticket to the recent Tynecastle clash with Rangers.

The striker turns 18 next week and is approaching a huge few weeks in both sides of his double life with Hearts chasing a Euro spot at the same time as his exams drop at Balerno High School. But with Advanced PE heavily based on practical work Wilson - who has bagged five goals in a dream breakthrough season - hopes his favour for Mr May will be taken into account.

He laughed: “Thirty per cent of the grade is your actual practical work. So I got my teacher Mr May a ticket to the Rangers game and that was my practical work! I would hope I pass.. I thought I played well that day so hopefully he enjoyed it!

“I’m doing PE and maths. My mum and dad both went to university. They are big into school and working hard. It’s the same with my brothers. It’s a balance is how they put it. It just takes a conscious effort from me to do the schoolwork at home and work hard at that.

“I am at Hearts most days. I probably go to school once a week. The relationship is quite good and the school help out a lot.

“My higher maths is on May 14. I don’t think that’s on a gameday but I need to check! I am just trying to fit in school around football but it’s important for me as a back-up. I want to be a footballer but you see the amount of people who get to the highest level and fall off. Or even get to the level I am at just now, and fall off. It could be one injury. I might need to rely on these qualifications to do something after football.”

Wilson is following in hefty