Hearts goal hero Black toasts the 'best week' in his career

Published Date: 11 November 2010
By BARRY ANDERSON
IAN BLACK said today he is enjoying the finest week of his career after scoring his first goal of the season and helping Hearts defeat both Hibernian and Celtic without conceding.

Last night's 2-0 triumph at Tynecastle saw the midfielder open his account for the season with the aid of a deflection off Celtic's Daniel Majstorovic. The result followed Sunday's success in the Edinburgh derby and leaves Black, a lifelong Hearts supporter, on an emotional high.

"It's definitely my best week as a player," he enthused. "Beating Hibs at Easter Road and getting my first goal of the season against Celtic is great.

"You have to strike them to get goals so, obviously, I'll take mine. It was going in. It took a wee deflection off the defender which made it hard for the goalkeeper but I was confident it was going to hit the back of the net. My goal last year against Falkirk was the best I've scored, though.

"I thought we dominated the whole game last night, we could have scored more even when they had 11 men. We played good football. Some people have said we knock the ball up to big Kevin Kyle a lot but I thought our football was brilliant.

"It's a great time to win at home because our home form was poor. The fans were right behind us throughout the whole game and that helped."

David Templeton's calm finish secured victory for Hearts which keeps them hot in pursuit of third-place Motherwell in the SPL.

Black said Rangers and Celtic should no longer trigger fear amongst other Scottish clubs after last night's results saw both Old Firm sides lose to those from Edinburgh.

"It's nice to score against the Old Firm and I want to score more," he continued. "The Old Firm are always beatable. Nobody's scared of them now. Everyone has strengths and weaknesses. We worked on Celtic's weaknesses and punished them."

A reckless challenge by Celtic's Joe Ledley, for which the Welshman received an instant red card, forced Black off during the second half with a calf injury as well as a torn sock.

"I was on the receiving end of it, I don't know what people thought but it was sore," he said of the tackle. "The referee thought it was a red card. I had a rip in my sock but I got up and tried to run it off. I had a bit of a dead calf.

"I saw him running over to me. I managed to just poke the ball past and he's clattered me. As soon as you go to ground, you know you've got that chance of getting sent off. If you stand up you're all right. Ledley went to ground and obviously made the wrong decision."

Taken from the Scotsman