The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
Wighton’s Gayfield loan spell pays off
Craig Wighton has still got plenty of years in football in front of him and plenty left to prove and achieve but it’s starting to look as if his short loan spell at Arbroath will end up being his career turning point.
It was ironic that he ended up scoring the winner fo r Hearts against us on Friday night but that underlined how important he now is to their squad.
And not many people would have predicted that last season – either under Craig Levein or Daniel Stendel.
He had fallen right out of the picture at Tynecastle and some people were starting to think that he would go down as one of those ‘wasted talent’ stories that we see so many of in the game.
I’ve said in the column before that it was his attitude that impressed me most at Gay field last season. There was no bruised ego at dropping down to part-time football. He embraced it and changed people’s minds.
Take Robbie Neilson, for example. Would he have been open to keeping Craig if he hadn’t seen the way he led the line at Tannadice against his Dundee United side, running the channels and basically being man of the match? I’m not sure he would have done.
You are always being watched in football.
Against us the other night he took his goal beautifully. The wee nudge that bought him the space was just as impressive and, although he started on the left, I think through the middle where he finished the game is his best position.
With Steven Naismith and Liam Boyce for competition it will not be easy to get a regular run as a number nine but he’s certainly giving Robbie a headache that he might not have expected to have had when he took the Hearts job.
It is that strength in depth that makes them such strong favourites for the title.
And it’s their strength through the middle of the pitch. We had it under Cowboy McCormack at Dundee, United had it last season and Hearts have it now.
We felt we de served something from the game but Craig Gordon made a great save to deny Kris Doolan.
Craig’s wages will be more than our whole squad, which puts the whole thing in perspective.
The good news is that was much more like a typical Arbroath performance of previous seasons.
If anything it was too nice a night. Next time one of the big teams comes to Gayfield let’s hope there’s a proper wind!
My first reaction when I heard that Jack Hamilton had been dropped from the Dundee team at the weekend was that it was harsh.
Losing six at Hearts puts the goalkeeper in the spotlight but I don’t think you would have blamed him directly for any of the goals.
The fact that James McPake made five changes for the Morton match paints a different picture, though.
He’s put an early marker down that the team wasn’t good enough as a whole, and by getting the win, it has paid off.
Don ’t write Jack ’s Dundee career off yet, though. I’m sure he’ ll respond in the right way and work on his game with Bobby Geddes.
But it’ s a great opportunity for Calum Ferrie, who has been on the scene for a while. He’s the man in control and, like I was saying about Craig Wighton, football careers can change direction very quickly.