JOHNSEN WARNING SHOT AT RANGERS
Two-goal Bjorn in mood as he sets sights on Ibrox side
WITH two goals, another one perhaps unfairly disallowed and the scalps of Motherwell’s central defenders surely tucked away in his kitbag for the journey home, you had better believe Bjorn Johnsen is right in the mood to get his teeth into Rangers.
It has taken the 25-year-old Norwegian-American a little while to come to terms with the particular challenges of Scottish football, but he certainly appears to be gathering a head of steam at the right time, having put Hearts 2-0 up and paved the way for Jamie Walker to complete the rout and end an unwelcome run of four games without a win for Robbie Neilson’s side.
With increasing fitness and a greater appreciation of the mentality of the Scottish game comes confidence. As Johnsen admitted, though, he also received something of a fillip from watching Rangers struggle their way to a lunchtime win at Partick Thistle as he prepares for a match under the floodlights on Wednesday night in which victory would see Hearts move into second place in the Premiership.
‘I feel it’s a perfect moment to be playing like this with that game coming up,’ said Johnsen. ‘Hopefully, I can give the same performance.
‘Every footballer wants to play in those kind of games in front of a full house. It will be exciting. Edinburgh will be buzzing.
‘We can go second and they (Rangers) almost lost to Partick. We were watching that game before we played and it gave us a bit of energy because they shouldn’t have won or were pushing their luck at least.
‘I think all of us can give Rangers problems and you can see how well Jamie Walker, for example, is doing. What we really need to focus on is when we get ahead in games, to control those games and get the results.’
Johnsen’s heroics were made all the more special by the fact his family were in the main stand at Tynecastle to see him take his recent tally to three goals in four starts in recent weeks.
‘My father, mother and little brothers were here and it’s the first time they’ve been to Scotland,’ he said.
Even though Motherwell did have no less than four efforts cleared off the line over the 90 minutes, the home side were the dominant force for the vast majority of the match and opened on the front foot.
Their first meaningful opportunity on 19 minutes resulted in an unfortunate casualty, though.
Callum Paterson sent a glancing header just wide from a Robbie Muirhead corner and clashed heads with Ben Heneghan. Both men required treatment with Heneghan having his head bandaged to stem some serious bloodflow.
Paterson was unable to play on for any length of time as a result of a nasty cut, accompanied by swelling, above his left eye and made way for Liam Smith just before the half-hour, but manager Neilson reported afterwards that he will be fit for the visit of Rangers.
Paterson was only just off the park when Hearts took the lead. Arnaud Djoum played Johnsen through on the left of the area and he rounded goalkeeper Craig Samson before converting with a low, angled effort.
Johnsen had the ball in the net again on 35 minutes when getting his head to a cross from Faycal Rherras and sending a looping, backward header over Samson and into the net. Linesman Alastair Mather had raised his flag and the goal was disallowed.
It mattered little. Johnsen got his second and fourth of his Tynecastle career a little after the restart when connecting with a Muirhead corner and sending a header low into the net.
‘Ben Heneghan claimed that he was blocked, but he’s a big, strong boy and he shouldn’t allow that to happen,’ said Motherwell manager Mark McGhee. ‘We found it hard to handle Johnsen all afternoon, particularly in the air.
‘We were overpowered, really. They were excellent in the way they played against our shape in the first half and passed the ball better than us.’
Rherras preserved the home side’s two-goal advantage when clearing a Heneghan header from a Lionel Ainsworth corner off his own goal-line and then blocking an effort from Scott McDonald moments later.
Walker then killed the match as a contest when playing a one-two with Djoum and rifling a low, diagonal effort past Samson and into the keeper’s right-hand corner.
Johnsen was removed from the action midway through the second period and his replacement, Conor Sammon, came close to making it four when drilling a shot just wide.
‘We gave up a couple of chances from set-plays, but it keeps our goal average up and the strikers are scoring now. Crisis over,’ said Neilson.
‘(Rangers) is huge for us. It is a massive game, a great game to be involved in. Even in today’s performance, I think the players are already excited and looking forward to it.’