Tyne traveller Temps is going back to future
DAVID TEMPLETON hopes to go back to the future against Hearts in a bid to recapture the form which had him on the brink of a Scotland cap.
The Hamilton winger will face his old club today, triggering memories of a meteoric rise in his career when current Jambos boss Craig Levein mentioned him in dispatches for international recognition.
Templeton has total recall of when he was the talk of Tynecastle and insists today can be another step in his recovery back to the top after several seasons battling back from injury.
He said: “I don’t know Craig but when I was playing under Jim Jefferies and playing probably my best football he was Scotland manager and I was linked to maybe getting a game.
“It seems a very long time ago. It has been a long time since I was linked with that type of stuff.
“I think I was maybe 22 so for me it was great to get that recognition.
“Obviously not to get the call-up was disappointing but at the point it gave me that motivation to try to keep doing well and try to get myself there.
“I don’t see why I can’t get back to that level. I feel I’m still good enough.
“I look back when I played under Jim and I was playing every week.
“He gave me that confidence to just be attacking – every time I got the ball he wanted me to take men on.
“If I can get back to playing the way I was, being attack-minded and trying to create and score goals, then who knows?”