COWIE HOPES HE CAN REPEAT ALL THE HURT
MENTION Celtic’s 4-0 defeat at Tynecastle to Brendan Rodgers and he’ll likely invoke the name of Don Cowie.
The Celtic manager remains sore about the match which cost his team its Invincibles tag last December, in part because he argues that Hearts’ first goal should never have stood.
Rodgers concedes his team was thoroughly outplayed on the day but was irked that Cowie was not penalised for encroaching on Craig Gordon’s penalty area as the keeper took a goal-kick in the lead-up to Harry Cochrane’s opener.
‘It was our set-play and I was just trying to react to stop them from getting out,’ reflected Cowie, nearly five months on. ‘Not until it was highlighted afterwards did I realise I should have been penalised.
‘I just tried to react, that was our game plan, to try and keep them on the back foot. We were well-deserved winners that day, I don’t think anyone can take that away from us.’
Cowie (below), who was once signed by Rodgers at Watford, believes his former boss will be intent on payback today.
‘Probably the manner of that defeat really hurt him that day,’ he added. ‘They were 69 games undefeated, so you can lose 1-0 and not much is said, but the fact it was 4-0 probably hurt him.
‘That’s what we have to expect this weekend — they will be looking for revenge, I’m sure.’
At 35, Cowie is one of the elder statesmen of the Hearts team. While the Gorgie side’s inconsistency might partly be attributable to the fact there are too few senior pros to call on, they remain undefeated at Tynecastle this season. Sixth might seem a lowly league position for a team capable of thrashing the champions, but Cowie senses opportunity in both Celtic’s return to Gorgie today and Wednesday night’s visit of Hibs for the final Edinburgh derby of the campaign.
‘It’s imperative we keep the home form going into next season, a bit of momentum to give the fans something to get excited about it,’ he said. ‘These are two huge games for us and both are equally important.
‘There’s definitely something missing. The away form has just not been good enough and that’s why we are where we are and have not managed to break into that top four.’