HEARTS midfielder Don Cowie believes Celtic will be out for revenge on their first return to Tynecastle since seeing their 69-game unbeaten run obliterated, regardless of the fact they have sewn up the league title.
Goals from Harry Cochrane, Kyle Lafferty and a David Milinkovic brace sealed a shock 4-0 triumph for the capital club in what was arguably the high-point in an otherwise under whelming campaign.
It was a performance marked by courageous high-pressing, tireless work ethic and clinical finishing, but is now a bittersweet memory for Cowie due to the rarity with which they have replicated that level of display. It will be an afternoon they seek to repeat today, though he knows it will not be a simple task.
“We were well-deserved winners that day,” Cowie said. “I don’t think anyone can take that away from us. Probably the manner of that defeat really hurt him [manager Brendan Rodgers]. They were on 69 games undefeated, so you can lose 1-0 and not much is said, but the fact it was 4-0 probably hurt more and they will be looking to make a statement to get revenge I’m sure. That’s what we have to expect.
“I don’t think we played brilliant football that day but we just showed an intensity and how powerful it can be when you get the fans behind you and the pressure you can put on the opposition. It’s definitely the blueprint of what we want to try and do.
“It was an exciting day. We were on a run of being undefeated and were thinking: ‘If we can finish the year well, then have the transfer window, we can burst into that top four’.
“That was the plan, we have just not been consistent enough and that’s the reason we’ve not managed to do it. We didn’t manage to build on it, that’s the frustrating thing.”
Hearts have a mouth-watering double-header with Hibs at home, following the Celtic game, and the veteran midfielder is determined to give the supporters a reason to be cheerful heading into the summer.
“The home form has been a major positive and it’s imperative we keep that going into next season and gain a bit of momentum to give the fans something to get excited about it,” he said. “It’s two massive games for us. Obviously we’ll deal with the Celtic game first, but they are both equally important.”
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here