MITCHELL SURPRISED BY SMOOTH RIDE

DEMETRI MITCHELL’S first taste of the Edinburgh derby didn’t quite match up to the scare stories his new team-mates had been spooking him with. ‘The way people were talking, I was expecting to be coming up against The Rock or something,’ declared the on-loan Manchester United kid as he explained the tone that had been set within the Hearts camp. ‘But it was okay. We’ve got good players who like to play football as well as mixing that with the physical side, so I enjoyed it. ‘People were telling me how physical and frantic it was going to be. It was definitely frantic — but I didn’t think it was as physical as people said it would be.’ Sunday’s Scottish Cup victory over Hibs was only Mitchell’s second appearance in senior football, his previous having come at home for United in last May’s 2-0 win over Crystal Palace. So his first two proper outings have been in front of 75,000 at Old Trafford, then a smaller — but louder — full house at Tynecastle. Who’s going to break it to the kid that the SuperSeal Stadium, with its odd jumble of stands and artificial surface, lies in wait tonight? The pitch, more than the surroundings, may be more of a problem for a player who has come through the elite end of youth development down south. ‘They’ve told me it’s an artificial pitch, that’s something I haven’t played a competitive game on for a while,’ admitted Mitchell. ‘The last time I would have played on a pitch like that was Under-16 level. ‘So it’s something that will be kind of new to me — but it’s something I will thrive on. ‘At Under-23 level, we don’t play in big stadiums. We sometimes play in tiny places where there’s not much of a crowd. So it doesn’t make much of a difference to me. ‘When I’m on a pitch and focused, it just feels like a natural game to me. ‘For my first game for Hearts to be in an atmosphere like that, and then to win it, was special. ‘The atmosphere was second to none. Because it was so close to the fans, you can hear everything and it just feels so intense. With that support we’ve got at Tynecastle, it was a real boost for the boys.’ Invited to compare the noise levels in Stretford and Gorgie, Mitchell admitted: ‘Because it was a derby, I could probably hear the fans more since they were so close. ‘It was more intense. The atmosphere was amazing. There were 75,000 at Old Trafford, it was full that day. But, because this was a local derby, there was more expectation.’