Lichties defender out to upset odds against his former mentor

Jason Thomson is determined to put the boot into Hearts – after scrubb ing Robb ie Neilson’s as a kid.

The Arbroath stalwart came through the ranks at Tynecastle and, as understudy for the rightback role, was at the beck and call of Neilson and Alan Maybury.

It was an invaluable learning curve for the defender, with Neilson always ready to offer words of advice.

Thomson, who made 39 appearances in four years with the Jambos, said: “I’d never claim to have been Hearts’ firstchoice right-back because Robbie had that position locked down for a decade.

“But he was always someone that you could look up to and ask for advice.

“I actually cleaned his boots for a few seasons when I first started, so that was a nice old school grounding in the game.

“He was brilliant with the young boys coming through. To this day, he always has time for a chat and is really humble.”

Thomson added: “I scrubbed the boots for Robbie and Alan Maybury because you looked after the boys in your position – and Robbie tipped me more.

“It might seem like a daft wee thing, but he looked after you because he had those same values of hard graft , and probably did the same when he was a kid.”

Thomson’s respect for Ne i l s o n as a player extends to his exploits as a manager.

The Lichties star watched the Ja m b o s demolish Dundee 6-2 last Friday and reckons the mix of pace, power and pressing was typical of what his old team-mate demands. Nevertheless, he is adamant Arbroath can pull off an almighty upset, just like they did in defeating Neilson ’s Dundee United 1- 0 at Tannadice in February.

Thomson continued: “I’ve played against Robbie’s teams a few times and they are always high-tempo but I think even he might have been surprised by just how good they were last week.

“They had a bit of everything last week – pace, power, goals. It’s hard to pick faults in anything they did.

“But they aren ’ t unbeatable – no team is. I remember we went to Tannadice when United were the runaway leaders and we won 1-0.

“Over the years Arbroath have become accustomed to winning and upsetting the odds, so let’s see if we can do it again.”

Andy Halliday insists Hearts are now brimming with confidence after claiming the memory of last season’s disastrous campaign had been lingering.

The win over Dundee came after three straight Betfred Cup group victories and Halliday reckons getting over last season ’s nightmare demotion in a campaign that saw Hearts win a total of 10 games has been hard for the players.

The former Rangers midfielder said: “Off the back of the Inverness game, boys had not played for 200-odd days.

“I could still sense that when it was 1- 0 going into the last 10, 15 minutes there was a bit of nerves just because of the record last year.

“But we’re four games into it now and you can see the confidence has grown.”

Jason Thomson.

Andy Halliday.