Ginnelly under no illusions about stealing Boyce berth
AFTER watching Hearts put five past Dundee United at Tynecastle on Saturday afternoon, Robbie Neilson quipped that Liam Boyce, his first-choice centre forward and leading scorer who was absent through injury, may struggle to win his place back when he regains full fitness.
Josh Ginnelly, the English winger who had deputised for the Northern Irishman up front and produced, despite not netting himself, an exceptional display, is having none of it.
“I’d happily step aside for Boycey,” he said. “He deserves it. He’s our main striker, he’s a brilliant player and we need him. He is probably the best I’ve played with. The guy has got everything.”
Ginnelly revealed he had studied videos of his club-mate in action for Hearts on Friday evening after learning that he was going to be moved through the middle and had flourished as a result.
He also received some expert advice from the man himself as they drove in to the stadium before the cinch Premiership encounter with opponents who were level with them on points.
“I knew I was going to play that role,” he said. “The night before I was watching all of Boycey’s clips and just trying to take in everything I could. It worked quite well.
“Somebody watching the game doesn’t pick up on the stuff he does. His intelligence on the pitch is crazy. His movement is amazing. He’s always occupying two players and staying out the eye line of opposition players, that’s why he scores so many goals.
“We came in together on Saturday and he was giving me little preps and things to do. It worked. I wanted my goal, but I’m happy with an assist and the result.
“I last played striker when I was about eight years old. Obviously coming into a men’s
game there’s a lot of different aspects that I need to do for the team. I’m just pleased I did a job.”
Ginnelly’s admiration for Boyce, his closest friend at the Gorgie club, was considerable before the weekend, but it has gone up even further in the wake of his cameo appearance.
“It’s tough,” he said. “As a player you always think: ‘I’d love to be a striker, you just stand there and score’. But it’s so hard. Stopping people switching the ball, pressing, trying to get the team up the park. It’s tough, but I enjoyed it.”
That Hearts played so well and won so emphatically against United without Boyce, Andy Halliday and Michael
Smith suggested that Neilson has the strength in depth that he needs in his squad to keep the current run of form going.
Ginnelly, who helped the capital club bounce back from their first league defeat of the campaign the previous week, is certainly confident they can continue to apply pressure to Celtic and Rangers at the top end following the 5-2 triumph.
“Without a doubt,” he said. “No question. We’ve got so much in the changing room. Our main striker was injured on Saturday and players had to go into other slots. And we still beat a good side. So we can definitely maintain.
“It was a massive win. People had been saying: ‘Hearts are falling apart’. But that’s not the case. We were all buzzing on Saturday obviously, but we were annoyed at the goals that we conceded. We’ve got a great mentality in the team, and we have just got to keep taking it game by game.”
The loss of Charlie Mulgrew, their vastly experienced centre-half, to a muscle injury at half time undoubtedly affected United. But Ian Harkes, the Tannadice club’s midfielder, still felt that he and his team-mates fell some way short of their usual standards.
“Hearts did play well,” he said. “They were sharp. But we were definitely off of it defensively.
“Of course we are going to miss Charlie. He brings so much to the team, on and off the ball. It was tough. He’s one of the leaders of the team. But it was up to us to get back into the game and we let ourselves down.”
Harkes, though, conceded that United, who passed up the opportunity to move into second on Saturday, can be satisfied with how they have performed in the Premiership to date.
“We have to be pleased with where we are, challenging towards the top of the table,” he said. “We have to work harder, use this international break to reset and go after the next run of games.”