Hearts boss Gary Locke facing a double blow in the wake of Edinburgh derby win

David McCarthy

12 Aug 2013 07:40

LOCKE is celebrating yesterday's 'huge win' over Hearts' city rivals, but is now hoping that administrators turn down a bid for Jason Holt with Ryan Stevenson facing 12 weeks out.
Gary Locke: "I’m hoping it gives them all the confidence in the world. It’s a great result backed by an unbelievable following again." Gary Locke: "I’m hoping it gives them all the confidence in the world. It’s a great result backed by an unbelievable following again."

HEARTS took their first steps towards the Great Escape by beating Hibs at Tynecastle yesterday – but Gary Locke could be faced with two new major headaches as his troops try to tunnel their way to Premiership safety.

The Jambos boss is facing the prospect of losing experienced midfielder Ryan Stevenson for around 12 weeks after he hobbled off with knee ligament damage 10 minutes into the 1-0 win over their rivals.

And Locke will be praying the club’s administrators reject any new bid from Nottingham Forest for midfielder Jason Holt who was watched by City Ground boss Billy Davies yesterday.

Davies had an offer for the Scotland Under-21 star rejected last month and is weighing up another move which is the last thing Hearts – down to the bare bones and suffering a transfer embargo – need at the moment.

But yesterday Locke was more interested in his first win over Hibs as manager.

The result brings his club, docked 15 points, to within 12 of their Edinburgh rivals and Ross County.

He said: “It’s a huge win. The situation we’re in – it doesn’t matter who we were playing today, getting your first victory and now putting a wee bit of pressure on the teams above us was huge.

“It helps that it’s your biggest rivals. The fans have been through an awful lot over the summer and hopefully that will be a result that keeps them happy.

“It gives everyone a lift. I wasn’t too disappointed last week when we got beat and I’m not going to get carried away today.

“But the sooner you get a win in the situation we’re in the better. We’ve done that and we’ve now got something to build on.

“I’m hoping it gives them all the confidence in the world. It’s a great result backed by an unbelievable following again.

“Our target has to be to get to zero points as quickly as possible. It’s going to be tough and because we’ve won today doesn’t change that – it’s still going to be a big ask. If we put in that type of battling performance we’ll give ourselves a chance.”

But he admitted the loss of Stevenson is a huge blow.

He said: “We’ll probably find out more tomorrow. It looks a bad one, maybe his medial ligament. So it looks like I’m going to lose him for a number of weeks which is a huge blow.

“We’ve not got the biggest of squads and he’s a valuable player for us.

“We’ll find out tomorrow with the scan. It’s not going to be great news whatever happens.”

The winning goal was scored by makeshift striker Callum Paterson who was playing up front because Locke had no natural centre-forwards available to him.

He said: “He’s got the attributes to be a good striker but he could also be a good wide-right player or right midfield man. Unfortunately, I’ve not got a lot of options and he gives you legs up front and is a big lad, he’s physical and he’s good in the air.

“So he gives you a bit of presence and I feel that worked reasonably well for us today.”

Taken from the Daily Record