KYLE: THAT WAS ONE OF THE BEST
Kyle: Beating Invincibles one of the best moments in my career
I’ve been saying for a while we were going to smash a team. But I never thought for a minute that team would be Celtic..
IT was always going to take something of seismic proportions to render Kyle Lafferty speechless.
Such is the rarity of a win over this Celtic side that the Northern Irishman could be forgiven being lost for words.
Four goals without reply came with the title of being the side that stopped the champions in their tracks.
And the Hearts striker insists yesterday’s display in the demolition of a team that had gone 69 domestic games unbeaten was long overdue.
But even the 30-year-old admits he was left dumbstruck at a result that sent shockwaves throughout our game.
He said: “I’m speechless to be honest. I’ve always said everything will click, we will gel together and smash a team.
“If someone was to tell me that team would be Celtic I’d have laughed in their face. I have been lucky enough to have been on a winning side a few times against Celtic but this win is right up there as one of the best.
“To be in the team that stopped them from going 70 games without defeat is one of the best feelings I’ve had.”
The emphatic nature of the Jambos performance was helped by an error-ridden Celtic side that looked to have finally run out of steam.
As their unbeaten record was brought to a halt Lafferty revealed Craig Levein had predicted the outcome during a pre-match pep-talk.
He said: “The manager told us to be the team that stopped Celtic from going 70 games in a row.
“Simple as that. He didn’t say much, he believes in the team and in every player. He said we would be the team to stop Celtic and we took that on to the pitch and beat them 4-0.”
David Milinkovic’s double combined with a Lafferty strike put Hearts out of sight after 16-year-old Harry Cochrane hit the opener and, in truth, it could well have been more.
Lafferty felt Celtic were there for the taking after being unable to cope minutes into a match where the capital side took a leaf out of Anderlecht’s tactics book during their Champions League visit to Parkhead.
He said: “We have worked hard all week, we watched clips of Celtic against Anderlecht and how they pressed them and kept them on the back foot.
“We spoke the whole week about trying to put them under pressure from the first minute until the last and that’s what we did. They struggle when players get into their faces.
“Celtic are a team who, if you show respect, the result could have been 4-0 to them. We believe in ourselves and the manager showed belief with the way he set up the team.
“I sensed in the first five minutes Celtic weren’t up for the game. We have played at Tynecastle on colder nights and managed to grind out results and we knew we needed that kind of performance as it was always going to be hard for us.
“In the first game of the season I didn’t really fancy their two centre-halves. Obviously they are great centre-halves but I knew when you are up against them and put them under pressure there are mistakes in them.
“I have done that, got a goal and gave other people chances as well.”
Some kind of context for the mature display by Cochrane comes in the fact he was four months away from being born when Levein started his first spell in charge at Tynecastle. He left the stadium clutching the man-of-the-match bottle of bubbly and Lafferty believes he will prove to be one of the best talents to emerge at the club.
He said: “I watched him speaking downstairs where he collected a bottle of champagne. He’s too young to drink it!
“He couldn’t speak because he is so shocked. But that’s Harry. He doesn’t say a lot.
“When he plays for the younger age groups you can see he is 16. But when he plays in the first team he steps up five or six years.
“He is a brilliant young player. I spoke to him before the game and said these are the games where you have to make a name for yourself. What a way to do it.
“He is one of the best young players I have seen. When I came to Hearts he was training with the first team.
“He got an injury at the start of the season but worked hard and was in the gym. To be honest I think he forgot to put the weights on the bars!
“He is going to be an
We spoke the whole week about putting them under pressure. They
exceptional player. Hearts have developed a few amazing young players down the years, even when I was at Rangers I saw it. Harry is going to be up there. If Hearts can keep hold of him for a long time they will do well.”
Lafferty continues to battle his own demons having spoken publicly about a gambling addiction but he was adamant the help he’s received from everyone at Hearts has him on a road to recovery.
He said: “It’s been difficult. I have good people around me. My wife Vanessa has been beside me 110 per cent. At this club even I’ve been shocked by how much they are behind me.
“Ann Budge has been absolutely superb with me. Austin MacPhee has been the same and the gaffer has been brilliant too.
“I was a bit afraid to come out in case it affected my relationship with the club or the owner but they’ve been 110 per cent behind me.
“That has made it a lot easier and I know I am in the right place.”