Scott: Jordan triumph just spurs me on
After a campaign without supporters Budge warns of further tough times
SCOTT DONALDSON admits he has been fired up by Jordan Brown’s stunning success at the Welsh Open.
The Northern Irishman – who was a 750/1 outsider to win the event – beat world champion Ronnie O’Sullivan in the final.
And world No.23 Donaldson is desperate to become the newest face in snooker’s winners’ enclosure at this week’s Gibraltar Open.
The Scot kicked off his bid for his maiden ranking title with a 4-2 win over Peter Lines.
Donaldson, who hit breaks of 140, 63, 57 and 52, said: “Seeing something like that gives you that extra hunger.
“I was absolutely over the moon for Jordan because he’s a really nice guy. It definitely spurs me on.
“Ronnie and a lot of the other top players sometimes look invincible. It gave a lot of tour players a bit of extra belief. Hopefully this week is my week.
“I’ve been playing well for a while now, ever since the turn of the year.”
Anthony McGill and Alan McManus produced emphatic 4-0 whitewashes against Louis Heathcote and Kacper Filipiak respectively. And Fraser Patrick picked up only his second win of the season with a 4-3 victory over Liam Highfield.
CALLUM DAVIDSON insisted a Betfred Cup hangover wasn’t to blame as St Johnstone’s top-six hopes were all but dashed.
The Perth boss had a late Guy Melamed goal to thank for a point after Accies had led through Ross Callachan’s first-half wonder strike.
Saints trail sixth-placed St Mirren by five points with two games before the split.
Davidson admitted they may have left themselves too much to do to claim a top-half finish this term.
He said: “I thought we needed to win to get in the top six but we gained ground on the teams below us so we can be pleased with that.
“To come from the emotional high of Sunday with a performance like that is credit to the players.
“The boys were brilliant given it was such a quick turnaround from Sunday.
“I was worried there might have been a hangover but after the first five minutes we were good and our energy levels were tremendous.”
It was back to the bread and butter for the Perth side after their Hampden heroics and Hamilton weren’t slow in trying to bring them back down to earth.
A period of sustained Accies pressure in the opening minutes brought a few anxious moments as David Moyo’s shot on the turn was blocked for a corner.
That was followed by an acrobatic volley from Stevie May which flew over the top as both sides engaged at either end of the pitch in an enterprising start.
Scott Tanser’s full-throttle strike from Liam Craig’s corner fizzed just wide of target from the edge of the area in the 15th minute as Saints seized the initiative.
Accies keeper Ryan Fulton was at full stretch to stop Melamed’s curling 20-yarder moments later.
Another Melamed attempt brought Fulton into action as he blocked the striker’s low shot from 12 yards after May had provided the cutback.
The breakthrough came for Accies and although it may have arrived against the run of play it was one to remember from Callachan. The Accies midfielder took a touch at the edge of the area before firing a shot which dipped over keeper Zander Clark to find the top corner.
The half ended with Craig Bryson dragging a shot wide but it was advantage Accies, regardless of the Perth men running the show.
Saints threatened three minutes after the restart with
Melamed again testing the reactions of Fulton with a downward header from David Wotherspoon’s cross.
Cup final goal hero Shaun Rooney was replaced by James Brown as Davidson also introduced Glenn Middleton and Michael O’Halloran in an attempt to add some impetus.
Yet it was Hamilton who almost doubled their lead in the 63rd minute. Callachan found Moyo, whose srike rebounded off the upright and the ball was cleared to get Saints off the hook.
A Tanser cross from the right had O’Halloran fluffing his lines with a fresh-air swipe and Craig rattled a shot over the bar before Saints finally rescued a point two minutes from time.
Melamed at last found a way past Fulton as he controlled a long ball by Liam Gordon before dinking a clever finish over the keeper.
HEARTS owner Ann Budge is “astonished” that all 42 SPFL clubs have so far survived the Covid crisis.
However, the Tynecastle chief has warned they are not out of the woods yet.
Budge, like every board member in the land, has been forced to fight fires amid a total loss of gate receipts, hospitality and a severe drop in sponsorship — among a swathe of other challenges.
The Jambos were one of the first clubs to impose swingeing salary reductions last March and have continued to mitigate their losses while remaining top of the Championship.
Every other club in Scotland’s senior divisions have also remained solvent but Budge believes it is impossible to overstate the importance of the government’s furlough scheme.
And, given that support will not last forever, she fears a reckoning may still lie ahead. She said: “I’m quite astonished that basically all the clubs are coping because I know how hard it must be for everyone and it can’t go on forever.
“A lot of it depends on the government approach and how long can it support businesses in the way that they have? Because without that, I don’t think a number of clubs would have survived.
“There was an underlying view that not all clubs would survive this. That was a year ago. Everybody is managing to keep going but I believe the threat is still there, for sure.
“If this carried on for another season, I’m not sure how many clubs would be able to survive.”
Such financial challenges have become commonplace for Budge as she attempts to combat the financial impact of the pandemic, all while seeking to plan for a return to the Premiership.
With Hearts’ turnover already down by more than £7million, Budge sees at least three years of belt-tightening ahead.
She said: “I don’t know if I can put a number on (the losses) but the previous year we had got our turnover up to around £15m and this year it will be half of that — and it’s going to be a loss.
“The objective becomes managing and containing that loss. The government support ( furlough scheme) has been amazing but we all know we will need to pay that back and I think it will take a minimum of three years to get back to where we were before.”
While Budge is loath to hang her hat on an imminent
return of crowds, she does hope the opening of certain aspects of Hearts’ business — their Skyline Restaurant at Tynecastle for example — will represent gradual, renewed sources of income.
She said: “It will get tougher but a lot depends on what happens in other parts of the business as well. At the moment, like everyone else, we have no hospitality business, no conference business — no any kind of business! “If some of those things come back on board then it does help, albeit I’m not saying it removes all problems, because it doesn’t.” Budge was speaking as Hearts hosted a trial event for BioSURE’s ‘Vatic Know Now’ Antigen Test, with 37 members of the club’s staff receiving their result within 15 minutes. Chris McKendrick of Foys Medical, the distributor of the test, believes — pending government approval — they could ensure stadiums are full by the start of next season.
It is already enjoying a dry run at three UK airports, including Edinburgh, and at £10 a kit compared to the current £80 for a standard PCR (polymerase chain reaction) test is seen as a cost-effective alternative.
But Budge — speaking just after her own negative test was confirmed — insists it would be foolhardy to suggest clubs could fork out the full amount to get fans back.
She said: “The costs are significantly less than current testing costs but we can’t let anybody think we’re going to pay for the test for 20,000 people. That comes into the discussion on how we work with supporters to get them back.
“They haven’t got unlimited spend and it’s maybe quite straightforward to say it’s just another cost of your Saturday, so instead of having a couple of pints, you have your test.
“I don’t know how it would be funded. I’m having some conversations about that at the moment.
“They will not have the same disposable income and we have to recognise that. It has to be at the forefront of everything we do.
“It’s about making whatever we do work for supporters, in terms of costs.”