Sure-footed youths help Hearts and McGlynn start with aplomb

Published on Monday 6 August 2012 02:55

AFTER a summer of negativity for Scottish football, the feeling when the season got under way was that there were finally some positives to focus on.

If John McGlynn, Hearts’ new manager, is to be believed, they could be long-lasting. Financial constraints meant he lost several first-team regulars over the summer. Those he has unearthed in their place are young, talented products of the club’s youth system and he
believes that other clubs will have to follow suit.

Long-term, it signals better times ahead for the national set-up, while, on the evidence of Saturday, the short-term outlook at Tynecastle may not be as bleak as anticipated.

With Kevin McHattie, 19, making only his second competitive appearance for the club and fellow full-back Callum Paterson, 17 making his debut before being joined by late substitute Dale Carrick, 18, there was a buzz of optimism ahead of this weekend’s trip to Easter Road for the first derby of the season. McGlynn says he will have no qualms unleashing the kids in that game. He does not even mind giving his counterpart, Pat Fenlon, the heads up. Young David Templeton can understand why, claiming they are the kind of lads who will take the occasion in their stride.

The little winger is another graduate of the club’s academy and on Saturday he proved that is no hindrance to progression. After an up-and-down time last season, he is aiming for consistency this term. On Saturday, he set the bar high as he tortured the St Johnstone defence as he darted at them, combining mesmerising close control and purpose. Showing greater maturity, he was also able to keep his head up and find the key pass and link up well with team-mates.

If the pressure is on the newcomers, it is also piled on the likes of Templeton, who, despite being only 23 himself, will now have to be the example.

“When you are a young boy it helps when you have a more experienced teammate talking you through games,” says the man who scored the second goal to seal victory over Steve Lomas’ side. “When I broke into the team I had Robbie Neilson helping me and he always talked to me and made sure I was doing the right things during games.

“It’s up to me, [Andy] Webster, Marius [Zaliukas], to talk the boys through the game and help them. I have to pinch myself that I’m one of the more experienced boys in the squad. I was having a laugh about that last week at training when we split into experienced and younger players for a bounce match and I was in the experienced team.”

The departure of Ian Black, Rudi Skacel, Stephen Elliot, Suso Santana and Craig Beattie, along with the absence of Danny Grainger and Jamie Hamill, has not only limited the number of experienced options for McGlynn, it has forced a positional reshuffle for the likes of Ryan McGowan.

Tucked in behind the main strikeforce, he is the link between the midfield and attack. It saw him go close to scoring on a couple of occasions, which worried Templeton almost as much as St Johnstone as the pair have already been winding each other up about who will finish higher in the goalscoring charts. Thanks to some goal-line gymnastics, Callum Davidson ensured that Templeton currently has the edge.

When the Perth full-back performed an acrobatic clearance from McGowan’s 10th minute header, from Andy Driver’s corner, it was payback for the clatter he had received from the Aussie in the opening minutes. That challenge earned McGowan a yellow card and was at the centre of the post-match recriminations.

St Johnstone were already a goal down when they were then reduced to ten men eight minutes from the interval. Gregory Tade was caught raising a hand to Webster and while his manager and team-mates had no complaints, they did feel that McGowan should already have been dismissed for his second minute foul.

In the end, it seemed to help the Perth team. They had conceded the 30th minute opener when Templeton’s positive run into the box lured Dave Mackay into a rash tackle, and John Sutton slotted away the penalty. However, as they had done when they went a man down against Hearts in the cup last season, they upped their play and took the game to Hearts.

While the home side had been comfortable and looked the more dangerous in attack throughout the first half, the visitors were a far more influential force in the second. “They were tough to beat. Even with ten men they pressed us really hard and it was a massive win for us on the first day of the season,” said Templeton. “We played really well in the first half, passed it well and created chances but we didn’t seem to play as well after the break. We panicked a lot more but Mehdi [Taouil] came on and he kept the ball well and passed it around.”

It was Taouil’s pass through which set up the deciding goal eight minutes from time. Latching onto it, Templeton then cut inside his defender on the edge of the box and curled a lovely strike beyond St Johnstone keeper Alan Mannus. It was the goal his performance deserved and it leaves his mate McGowan playing catch up as they head into the derby.

Taken from the Scotsman