Easter Road red was lowest point of my career, says Paterson
CALLUM PATERSON can think of better places to wallow in gut-wrenching guilt and self-loathing than the away dressing room at the stadium of his bitter rivals.
Fortunately for the Hearts star — and when he least expected it — he enjoyed a sudden upturn of emotion in his tumultuous relationship with Easter Road on his most recent visit.
Paterson had believed the home of Hibernian was a rather fun place to play football when he scored two headed goals within four minutes to secure a 2-1 victory 12 months ago and drag Terry Butcher’s team further into relegation trouble.
However, earlier this season he achieved a lifetime low to go with that career high when he was sent off for a dangerous foul on Dominique Malonga with 11 minutes remaining and unbeaten Hearts trailing 1-0.
Paterson was still rearranging a variety of objects in the dressing room and enveloped in a rage at his culpability as the match moved into injury time.
So he was oblivious to the wild and, for the visitors, wonderful finish to the contest that saw Alim Ozturk fire home a 40-yard stunner to rescue a point for the runaway Championship leaders.
Not surprisingly, no one on the home stadium staff was of a mind to be kind enough to put him out of his misery.
‘Scoring the two goals there was one of the highest points,’ said Paterson ahead of today’s renewal of hostilities in Leith. ‘The feeling of scoring at Easter Road was great and one I’d like to experience again.
‘But getting the first red card I’d ever had — I’d never even been sent off from the Under-9s or 10s, anything — was one of the lowest points of my career.
‘You don’t know what to do. Sent off, down the tunnel, on your own and you’re just distraught, really.
‘There were a few things flying across the dressing room.
‘There’s an empty feeling, there’s guilt.
‘It could be your fault that the game was lost.
‘So if the result had gone the other way, then it might have been a bit different but, thankfully, Alim pulled off that wonder strike to dig me out of a
massive hole and I was able to put it behind me.
‘I didn’t know about it initially. I thought we’d got beaten. I was just left to rot in there!
‘They came in at the end of the game and everyone was a bit happy and I was like: “Why?”
‘Alim tried to tell me about the goal and I was like: “You’re having me on”. It was a great strike. Hopefully he can get another this weekend.’
Thanks to that remarkable hit by Ozturk, Hearts boast an unbeaten record in the derby fixture this term but they have hardly lorded it over their rivals in the head-to-heads. There was another 1-1 tie at New Year while, even when Hibernian were finding their feet under Alan Stubbs back in August, they pushed Hearts all the way before falling 2-1 in Gorgie.
Paterson is grateful for the fixture following his club into their title year in the second tier and hints that he would miss the buzz if their adversaries fail to pinch promotion via a play-off.
‘You never know, this could be the last derby for a while,’ he noted. ‘Hopefully it’s not because it’s a massive thing for the fans and players to look forward to, always a great occasion with lots of drama and goals.
‘The games have been tight this season with very small margins at play. Hibs are still massively looking to pick up points to try to finish second.
‘They were doing well for a long period then slipped up a couple of times.
‘They beat Dumbarton to get back on track, so that will give them a bit of confidence ahead of Sunday.
‘We’re not going to roll over, we’re going to make it as hard for them as possible.’