Sep 12 2006

TONY Bullock admitted that he’s aiming to make the number one jersey his own after his heroics at Tynecastle helped the Buddies to a sensational 1-0 victory over Hearts.

Bullock made a dramatic return to first-team action in favour of Chris Smith and he pulled off a series of thrilling saves and played a big part in Saint's weekend win.

Stewart Kean scored the winning goal after 83 minutes, but it was Bullock who made the headlines with a superb display between the sticks.

He said: “I’m very pleased with myself, it was just one of those days where everything seemed to hit me.

“Obviously I was disappointed at the start of the season when I didn’t get my chance in the first team, but it’s come along now and I’m very happy with the way I played. Hopefully I’ll be between the sticks next week."

The 34-year-old pulled off two important first half saves from Saulius Mikoliunas, then Christophe Berra, to keep the Buddies well in contention before Kean’s late winner.

But the modest big goalie tried to play down his performance.

He said: “At the first save, the boy came across big Kirk Broadfoot and he got a good touch, but I just spread myself and it hit me.

“The second one I didn’t know an awful lot about, because the boy just headed it and it hit me in the face, but the boys helped me out and cleared it for a corner.

“To be fair, we rolled over a couple of times and big John Potter played one off the line when I shouldn’t have rolled it out and the gaffer reminded me of that at half-time. I was wee bit slack.”

Bullock, who, until Saturday, was second choice keeper at Love Street, admitted that he’s had to work extremely hard to earn his recall to the Saints starting 11.

He said: "I kept going in training, kept doing my best, played a couple of games for the reserves, again, tried my best and the only thing you have got to do in that situation is get your head down, work hard and try to impress the gaffer.

“I’ve not got a point to prove to anybody but myself. I’m pushing on 35 now and I still want to play at this level. I want to play week in, week out and hopefully I can keep on doing that.”

The former Dundee United keeper also revealed that the spirit in the Love Street dressing room and their work ethic are the two main ingredients in St Mirren’s success story so far this season.

He said: “This is probably the best dressing room I’ve been in. No disrespect to Dundee United, because I've still got a lot of good friends up there, but the work ethic at St Mirren is second to none and probably the best I’ve come across throughout my whole career.

“I think we have got a great work ethic and team spirit. As individuals, we’re not the best players in the world – but we’re good players.

“The team spirit that we have is down to the gaffer and Andy Millen, because they drum it into us week in, week out that we win, lose and draw as a team.”

Bullock is hoping that his Buddies can use their fabulous win at Tynecastle as a platform to build on.

He said: “We’ve had a decent start, a shock result at Tynecastle and we have to build on that.

“We’ve got Kilmarnock at home this week and if we don't perform there, then we'll get told about it by the boss.”