Nade feared his season with Hearts was over

Colleen Paterson
CHRISTIAN NADE today admitted that he thought his season was over after Ricky Foster's crunching challenge at Tynecastle on Saturday. The big Hearts striker was left writhing in agony after the Aberdeen player slid in late with two feet right in front of the home dugout during the second half of the Jam Tarts' 2-1 victory.
Whistler Charlie Richmond was one of only a few people inside the ground who didn't think the tackle merited a sending-off and instead chose to yellow card the Dons star.

The challenge – and the decision to allow the player to stay on the park – infuriated Jambos boss Csaba Laszlo and left Nade fearing the worst.

The hitman, who scored Hearts' first goal on the stroke of half-time before Andrew Driver added a second-half winner, revealed that he feared he'd suffered serious damage, only for a wave of relief to wash over him when he was able to walk off the pitch after treatment.

Physio Rob Marshall spent several minutes with the player before giving him the all-clear and, after a few unsteady minutes trying to run the injury off, Nade was glad to see out 90 minutes before being replaced in the dying moments by Adrian Mrowiec.

He said: "I was really scared. I thought that maybe it was going to be my last game of the season. I had a problem with this knee last week and it was very painful. When the tackle came in it was very heavy and I did not know how bad it was.

"When I started to run on it afterwards it was very sore and stiff for a little while. It made running very difficult but then it began to ease off and I was very relieved."

Club medics will have another look at Nade's knee this week to ensure there are no after effects of the challenge, although the player is hoping to be able to take part in training as normal, adding: "It felt better as the game went on but I think that part of the reason was that the joint was still warm.

"We will have to wait and see how it feels this week. Maybe in two or three days it may feel sore again.

"To begin with, I was very worried. I think even the physio was worried because it happened right in front of him and he was scared for me. I think that it was a big relief to everyone that I was able to get up and walk around afterwards."

Nade lined up as part of a 4-4-2 formation against Jimmy Calderwood's side and, having scored his third goal of the season, admits that he enjoyed linking up with fellow striker Gary Glen.

Having missed the previous week's Scottish Cup defeat to Falkirk, Nade was simply glad to be back in the starting line-up but was boosted even further by the fact that he had the support of another hitman alongside him.

Laszlo has gone with just the one striker on several occasions this season but Nade conceded that he much prefers a two-pronged attack and believes that it could prove beneficial to the Tynecastle side.

He said: "I was very happy with the way I played against Aberdeen – and I enjoyed it too. It was good for me to be playing again because I was very disappointed to miss out in the last game.

"It was good for me to come back into the side, to score a goal and hopefully to show the coach what I can do for him. I want to give 100 per cent for the club.

"Gary Glen is a very good player and, although we have some very good players in the midfield, I think that for me it is easier to play alongside him.

"He is a striker and that means we know what the other one is thinking, what to do to get yourself into the best positions and how to create space for yourself to go on a good run.

"When we are in the same team together, if I am not in the box, Gary is in the box and I think that is good for the team because it means that maybe we can take more of the chances that we have been creating.

"It is better for me if guys like Bruno are there to give you a good pass into the box instead of playing just one up front on their own.

"It was good to finish off our chances against Aberdeen. We scored two good goals – and both headers so we are not doing too badly!

"Hopefully, if we can play two strikers up front then we will be able to score a few more goals between us before the end of the season."

The victory over Aberdeen sent Hearts two points clear in third place in the SPL table and into the driving seat for one of the European places which will be up for grabs at the end of this season.

Nade, however, knows that there is still a long way to go and that if Hearts have real ambitions of qualifying this time around that they have to ensure they perform with as much commitment when they take on St Mirren this weekend.

And he acknowledges the importance of being able to deny their opponents the opening goal, having given themselves a mountain to climb against Aberdeen, Falkirk and Hamilton in recent weeks.

He said: "The result was a very important one for us. We wanted to win this game because we know that Aberdeen are going to be one of the teams who are also trying to get a European place.

"But it is important that we keep getting good results, one is not good enough for us.

"We now have to think about the next game against St Mirren. We also have to win this game.

"I think we have to not allow the teams to score the first goal and to score it so easily. The manager is not happy with that situation and neither are the players. It is good that we were able to come back and score two goals to go on to win the game but we should not have been in that position in the first place. If we can score first then it makes it a very different game for us.

"We played well on Saturday, but once again we allowed the opposition to score first and that makes our job very difficult.

"We played much better in the second half than we did in the first. We must learn to play like that for 90 minutes and not just for the first or second half."

Taken from the Scotsman