Hearts in victory stroll as Souttar shines
HEARTS assistant Austin MacPhee is adamant John Souttar is destined for the top after watching the defender shine on his return from six months of injury hell against 10- man East Fife.
The 20- year- old was slated for a senior comeback in the Jambos’ Premiership opener against Celtic next month but, following a cameo in a bounce match against Civil Service Strollers in midweek, he was thrust straight into the starting XI at Tynecastle yesterday.
Souttar has been absent since suffering a devastating Achilles injury against the Hoops in January, yet showed little sign of rustiness against the Methil men, even teeing up Kyle Lafferty’s opening goal with a delightful, chipped pass.
He was replaced by Alex Petkov in a pre- arranged move at the break, with further goals from Christophe Berra and Lafferty sealing a comfortable triumph.
And MacPhee was in no doubt what the most pivotal thing to take from a fairly routine victory was.
“John’s return is the biggest thing we can take from the game,” said Ian Cathro’s right-hand man.
“It was great to see him back out there because he was a massive loss to us last season. He was injured at the end of the transfer window and, to be honest, we never replaced him.
“But he has worked so hard to get back to fitness and his attitude has been excellent.
“John is good on the ball and is really nice to watch, even in the defensive third. He will be a big player for us.
“He is a student of the game and he can go right to the top.
“It’s easy to forget he’s only 20. John broke through at 16 and he will only get better. We look forward to helping him develop.”
Michael Smith took just five minutes to fire a warning shot across the bows of the visitors, ghosting in to the box and rattling the post with a ferocious rightfooted drive before his compatriot Lafferty headed a gilt- edged chance inches wide.
Lafferty made amends when he deftly
directed Souttar’s delivery beyond Ryan Goodfellow.
Berra put the game to bed in the 70th minute, rising to meet a Malaury Martin corner and head home his first goal for the club since January, 2008.
Lafferty added gloss to the scoreline from the penalty spot after Gonclaves had been felled in the box by Ben Gordon, with the defender shown a second yellow card for the offence.
“I was really pleased with the effort and work-rate from the boys,” said East Fife boss Darren Young.
“Hearts caused us problems in the first half but we had some really good spells after the break.”