Hearts: Danny Wilson glad Michael Ngoo found his way

By STUART BATHGATE
Published on Friday 1 February 2013 00:00

THERE was a minor panic at Tynecastle on Wednesday night when a member of staff had to be sent to collect Michael Ngoo after the striker phoned up before the match with Dundee to say he was lost.

But one man who was distinctly unflustered was Danny Wilson, like Ngoo on loan at Hearts from Liverpool.

The Scots defender has known his English colleague for years, and is well aware of Ngoo’s poor sense of direction.

“Michael wakes up and he’s lost,” Wilson said after Hearts’ 1-0 win. “He’s always phoning me saying ‘I’m lost, I’m lost’, but he’s never really lost. He’s probably just saying that because he’s a bit late. He got here on time and he managed to find his route. It’s a straight road that, the A71. I don’t know how he could get lost on it.” Ngoo has certainly looked anything but lost on the field. He scored on his debut against Caley Thistle, and has quickly become a favourite with the Hearts support. “He’s a great boy,” Wilson continued. “The fans have taken to him and so have the boys. I’ve known him for a long time now. He’s a top man and he’s playing well.

“He never got his goal tonight, but he worked his socks off for the team. We see that and we appreciate what he gives us. He did well at the weekend and scored a goal which helped us get into the League Cup final. That’s always going to get the fans on your side straight away. You hear them out there: they’re right behind him. As a young boy he’ll thrive off that and will keep wanting to do well for Hearts.”

Wilson himself has made an impressive start to his time at Hearts, slotting in at left-back and also getting forward a lot. “I’m just loving getting a game now,” he said. “That’s all I want to do. I’ve managed to have three in the last ten days, and I’m delighted to be back out there. But getting a win and helping the boys was even more important.”

Hearts had to remain patient against the league’s bottom side, with John Sutton scoring an 86th-minute winner from an Arvydas Novivokas cross shortly after both men had come off the bench. “You’ve seen it loads of times, where you have control of the game, don’t get what you deserve and the other team maybe hits you with a sucker punch,” Wilson said of the match. “But we managed to keep concentrated, and we got the goal which our play thoroughly deserved. We played some good football and we’re just happy we got the goal in the end. The manager made a good decision going 4-4-2 towards the end to get the extra striker on, and it paid off.”

Taken from the Scotsman