Another one for the album
At the end of a week in which his most famous goal was reprised, Tony Watt adds a new entry. Stewart Fisher reports
CELTIC being drawn against Barcelona in the Champions League in midweek has meant Tony Watt’s famous goal against the Catalan giants being replayed ad infinitum. So, what better time than for the 22-year-old to start writing memories for his new club?
The striker’s first goal for Hearts arrived in the nick of time as the Tynecastle outfit saw off a stubborn Partick Thistle side by an identical scoreline, to move menacingly on to seven points in the Premiership table.
The same striking instincts which were once deployed against the likes of Xavi and Lionel Messi were displayed with a fine injury-time finish from an acute angle, when the home side failed to clear after Tomas Cerny slapped out a Don Cowie cross. While Thistle’s goalkeeper complained bitterly that he had been impeded, in truth it was a couple of his own defenders he appeared to collide with.
“We were desperate for him [Watt] to get a goal,” said manager Robbie Neilson afterwards. “You can see the quality he brings. That was the reason I kept him on – when you have a player of that calibre, you keep him on the pitch to try and get you something. The movement, the take and the hit for the goal: top drawer.”
Callum Paterson’s towering header from a Sam Nicholson corner which opened the scoring here was another reminder of why his services are so highly prized. The 21-year-old has a strike rate of approximately one in four of his 130odd starts for the Hearts first team, even if it was something of a mixed bag from him yesterday.
While Wigan, under Gary Caldwell, are still thought to be some distance away from the Scotland international’s valuation of £1.2m, the mood music last night suggested a further offer from them before Wednesday’s midnight deadline was imminent and that Paterson might well have played his last game for Hearts.
“A club put a couple of offers in [for Paterson], and they know what we’re looking for, as do the agents,” added the Hearts manager, who said the club were also in the market for a left midfielder. “Until someone comes in and meets that valuation, the player will stay with us. If they do meet it, it’s up to us to try and get some cover in there.
“We’ve got Liam Smith who can play for us, and he’s ready to take over the mantle.”
Right back Smith – already part of the Scotland Under-21 side – was given the last few minutes.
“You can see his power,” said Neilson. “We worked all day to break them down and pass our way across the back, but we couldn’t get through. Then we get a good set play, good movement and sometimes you need to score goals that way too.
If last week’s 5-1 rout of Inverness showcased Hearts at their fluent best, yesterday was more about grinding things out and the ability to stay the course to the end, an equally vital asset to possess in Scottish football.
Thistle gave as good as they got for most of these 90 minutes, even if their midfield injury problems appeared to catch up with them late on as they got forced deeper and deeper.
It was tough for manager Alan Archibald to take, given they had lost by a similarly narrow margin against Aberdeen last weekend.
Liam Lindsay, culpable for a costly error at Pittodrie last weekend, headed Chris Erskine’s freekick in off the underside of the bar to give them a deserved equaliser not long after half-time, while in the death throes of this match, with Erskine, Steven Lawless and even the marauding Mathias Pogba wreaking havoc on the counter, this could have gone either way.
“I think it was harsh on us,” said Archibald. “We did enough to merit at least a point. The manner of the goal is disappointing too. Tomas has got a decent punch on it but the boy [Perry Kitchen] has blocked the clearance, so it’s disappointing as I thought we were comfortable defensively.
“They didn’t cut us open in the second half and I felt we looked likely to get the winner. The last two games against top sides have shown we need to start taking our chances.”
When you have a player of that calibre, you keep him on the pitch to try and get you something