The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
Midfielder ‘buzzing’ to prove his worth at Hearts
Hearts have signed former Sheffield Wednesday midfielder Sean Clare on a three-year deal.
The Scottish Premiership leaders beat off strong competition from English Premier League and Championship clubs to secure the 21-year-old on a free transfer.
Clare, who spent time on loan at Gillingham last season, was a free agent after his contract at Hillsborough expired during the summer.
He told Hearts TV: “I’m buzzing to be here. I’m really happy to get it done and I’m looking forward to what’s to come.
“There has been interest from England in the Premier League and the Championship.
“I really took my time on the decision, but even before I came up I knew that Hearts was a massive club and you’ve got really passionate fans and a great fan base – people who you want to play for – so that really attracted me to come up.”
Meanwhile Jambos boss Craig Levein hailed his young central defence as the cornerstone to the 1-0 victory that took them five points clear at the top of the Ladbrokes Premiership.
Zdenek Zlamal made a good save from Curtis Main as Motherwell pressed in the early stages at Fir Park but Hearts never looked back after Steven Naismith capitalised on a slack pass from Carl McHugh to net the only goal in the 28th minute.
Zlamal made another decent stop from McHugh just after the break but Hearts otherwise soaked up the pressure and could have added to their lead.
New Scotland international John Souttar, 21, and 20-year-old on-loan Burnley defender Jimmy Dunne repelled a number of balls into the box and Hearts looked even more comfortable when debutant Clevid Dikamona came off the bench to join him in central defence.
Levein said: “I thought this was going to be really tough and our base strength was our defending. The two young centre-backs were amazing. I watched the Rangers game here a few weeks ago and the strike force of Motherwell caused the Rangers centre-backs all sorts of problems.
“But Bobby (Zlamal) had one decent save to make and other than that we defended magnificently, and that was the platform for our victory.
“Second half, although they bombarded our box with high balls, when we won the second ball, if we picked the first pass we were almost running the length of the field to get an opportunity to score. Three times we should have squared the ball for a tap-in but we can work on that in training.”
Motherwell suffered a double blow following McHugh’s under-hit ball back to his goalkeeper as Trevor Carson suffered a bad ankle injury after being closed down by Uche Ikpeazu.
Former Carlisle and Walsall goalkeeper Mark Gillespie came on for his league debut and made good stops from Dunne and Demetri Mitchell.
Manager Stephen Robinson said: “It’s a huge blow. He is going to be out for a period of time, I have no doubt about that, looking at the state of his ankle.
“We have got Mark. We made a conscious decision to have two number one goalkeepers. So Mark will get his chance and we will just have to see where Trevor is.”
Hibernian striker Florian Kamberi struck a controversial late penalty to earn the Easter Road club a compelling 3-2 victory over Kilmarnock.
The Swiss netted his fifth of the campaign after Killie captain Kirk Broadfoot was penalised for a challenge on Jamie Maclaren.
The hosts had stormed into a twogoal lead after 23 minutes through Stevie Mallan and David Gray.
Kilmarnock, still aggrieved over the Scottish FA’s decision not to overturn captain Gary Dicker’s red card against Hearts, hauled themselves level before the break with strikes from Eamonn Brophy and Greg Stewart.
Livingston maintained their 100% record under Gary Holt as Steven Lawless’ wonder-strike secured a deserved 1-0 triumph over Hamilton.
The 27-year-old scored what would prove to be the decisive goal after three minutes, unleashing a spectacular drive from distance beyond the despairing Gary Woods.