Callachan ducks out of mind games
● Hearts midfielder labels Bartley’s tweet as ‘pretty pointless’ as he looks ahead to yet another capital cup derby
Hearts midfielder Ross Call ac hanh as described Marvin Bartley’ s Twitter jibe following the last edinburgh derby as“strange” after the Scottish Cup draw teed up another fascinating clash in the capital.
Hibs emerged victorious from the last showdown between the fierce foes in October, when a Simon Murray strike secured a 1-0 win over Hearts on an electric night at Easter Road.
Bartley rubbed salt in the wound on social media, singling out Hearts midfield dynamo Callachan by writing: “Who is this Ross they talk of, I’m guessing he was injured today?!”
Bartley later explained that the message was in response to Hearts fans who had suggested that Callachan would dominate the engine room duel between the pair.
They will cross swords yet again after Hibs were handed a trip to Tynecastle Park in the Scottish Cup fourth round and Callachan, speaking for the first time since inadvertently being caught up in the online storm, remains baffled by Bartley’s conduct.
“I’ve played against him a lot so we know each other a bit,” said Callachan. “For whatev- er reason he decided to tweet about me, which is strange, but it’s just one of those things.
“I was tagged in [Bartley’s tweet] by a few people but it didn’t bother me. It’s part of the game, the social media stuff.
“I see a lot of tweets about myself and other players. That’s up to them. There’s nothing I can really do about that and I don’t like getting involved. I think it’s pretty pointless.
“The last derby was a disappointing night and I’d be first to say I wasn’t good enough. I think a lot of boys would admit they weren’t good enough. It just gives us more incentive in the next derby to do better.”
Hearts fans could be forgiven for dreading the prospect of yet another Scottish Cup clash against Hibs. Hearts have been dumped out by their rivals in the last two campaigns, while they are yet to win any of the last eight meetings between the sides. The cup draw, allied to a league encounter between the sides on 27 December, means they will face off at Tynecastle twice in less than three weeks.
Callachan is adamant their recent woeful record only serves to motivate the men from Gorgie to wrestle back some bragging rights.
“Hearts haven’t done great the last two years in the Scottish Cup against Hibs so this is a good chance to rectify that,” he added. “The more Edinburgh derbies, the better. We have one on 27 December, so we need a result there as well. We need to do it for the fans. They will be disappointed from the last game so this is a good chance to make up for it.
“The boys will still be hurting from that game, and other recent games. We haven’t been as good as what we show in training. We know we’re better than what we’ve shown.”
Meanwhile, Callachan has spoken of his pride at being a member of the Hearts side to play in front of their new main stand – despite a pre-match scare when Hearts unveiled their new £14 million structure with a fireworks display.
Callachan, a boyhood Hearts fan hailing from Bonnyrigg, laughed: “When I walked out I got the fright of my life with the fireworks going off. I grabbed the mascot in front of me and I think he got a fright as well! The ground was shaking.
“After that it was good. There was a right good atmosphere, it was a special occasion and the fans were great. Hopefully they keep coming and spur the boys on. With the fans at our backs, it’s that 12th man.”
Now the priority is to get back to winning ways at the new-look Tynecastle Park. “We need to show a bit of resilience and build momentum at Tynecastle,” added Callachan. “When we go 1-0 up, we need to see games out better. If we can do that then we’ll start picking up more points, get a run going and climb up the table.” l Ross Callachan was speaking as Hearts stars helped to decorate Save The Children stores in Edinburgh ahead of Christmas Jumpers Day on 15 December.