England hopes for Heaton

IT WAS after witnessing his Burnley side ship five goals to Everton on Boxing Day that Sean Dyche made the ruthless decision to axe Joe Hart and install Tom Heaton as his No 1. Burnley had won one league match in 12 with Hart in goal — conceding 30 times in the process. Since Heaton’s recall they have gone seven league games unbeaten. His form has inevitably led to talk of an England call-up for next month’s opening Euro 2020 qualifiers. And Gareth Southgate could do a lot worse. Heaton, with three caps to his name, has not played for England since June 2017. ‘Obviously I harbour ambitions to be back involved,’ said Heaton. ‘I’ve always had a massive hunger for that stuff, I can’t shy away from that. ‘But there is a lot of water to go under the bridge yet and I’m very conscious of not getting carried away.’