He’s got the whole world in his hands
McEneff: Big man Craig is world class.. in training he’s on deck before ball is even hit
AARON McENEFF insists Hearts can handle the boos – because they have a world-class goalie to keep them steady on their feet.
The Jambos were met with jeers from the 3700-strong maroon army at half-time of Sunday’s 1-0 win at Livingston after a first-half wobble in which only the brilliance of Craig Gordon prevented them falling behind.
By the final whistle the travelling fans were toasting the veteran goalkeeper’s heroics which laid the foundation for Liam Boyce to pop up with a second-half winner.
McEneff isn’t surprised in the slightest and that’s because he sees the Scotland No.1’s unbeatable brilliance close up at training every day.
The win propelled Hearts five points clear in third and ended a six-game winless run on the road. In stark contrast they’ve still to taste defeat at fortress Tynecastle in 10 home games this season.
And with Rangers heading to Gorgie next, McEneff is focused on extending that wonderful home form to make sure the fans are cheering rather than jeering on Sunday night.
With Gordon in the form of his life there’s every chance Rangers could leave Gorgie empty handed just like Celtic earlier in the season.
The Irishman heard the boos at the Tony Macaroni Arena but said: “As a player it’s important to stay calm. It’s not going to be nice and rosy every game. You have to rely on defenders sometimes and you have to rely sometimes on a world-class goalkeeper to dig you out.
“Obviously you don’t want to rely on that but that’s football. Sometimes you have to grind it out.
“When we got in at halftime at 0-0 we were well in the game and we made changes to the system for the second half.
“As long as you stay calm and trust your ability you know you will get chances. Boycey’s finished his chance.”
The pick of Gordon’s saves came midway through the opening period when he blocked Andrew Shinnie’s effort before touching Jason Holt’s drive onto the crossbar in a sequence that saw four Livingston attempts on goal repelled in 30 astonishing seconds.
McEneff said: “It was two saves, two posts and two blocks. Something like that.
“He is just unbelievable. He does it every day in training.
“I stay behind in training most days and hit shots at the big man.
“Sometimes he’s lying on the ground before the ball is even hit and he’s just plucking them out of the air. He’s different class. We didn’t really come out of the blocks in the first half.
“For whatever reason we didn’t get going and Livingston were well on top.
“But we have a top-class goalkeeper and he kept us in it.
“Then we changed our shape a bit and when we got in at half-time 0-0 we knew we had to lift ourselves. I think we did that.
“We came out in the second half like a different team.
“We missed a fair amount of chances to go more in front and the boys at the back took care of it defensively.
“We’ve started well this year but we don’t focus too much on what’s around us. We try to focus on ourselves.
“We’ve got a big game on Sunday against Rangers.
“So we will prepare properly this week and focus on that.”