THE family of Hearts teenager Harry Cochrane are understandably keen to guard against seeing their son’s head, proverbially speaking, ending up in the clouds.
In the family home, therefore, parents Ross and Sarah make sure that the 16-year-old, yes, he is still that young, is nestled into the pillow at a decent hour.
Cochrane has revealed his dad is “on my case from 9.30pm to get to bed.”
This lad’s talent is unquestionable but a spectacular rise to prominence at such a tender age would be enough to sidetrack any young player, regardless of how grounded they are.
The midfielder became the Tynecastle side’s youngest ever league scorer when he netted and played his part in ending Celtic’s remarkable 69-game unbeaten run in December, the clinical strike subsequently being crowned the SPFL Goal of the Month.
The Scotland Under-16 internationalist’s breakthrough has also not gone unnoticed south of the border. Former Tottenham Hotspur and West Ham United manager Harry Redknapp remarked that his namesake’s emergence “has to be good for the game in Scotland”.
A precocious star in a man’s game but Cochrane remains very much a boy at home.
“My mum and dad keep me grounded, my dad is on at me every night to get to my bed early,” said Cochrane, who is part of the Hearts squad who flew out to Spain yesterday for a five-day training camp.
“He’s on my case from about half past nine, telling me to get up the stairs because I need to rest for training the next day.
“I asked him for the iPad charger the other night but he sent me back to my room.
“I’m enjoying it all but I need to keep my feet on the ground and not get carried away.
“To be in the first-team squad and to have played the number of games I have is amazing, but I need to work hard to keep my place.
“The Celtic game was a great experience, (Celtic manager) Brendan Rodgers congratulated me after the game which was nice of him to do.
“It has been a brilliant few weeks for me, there’s not really more you can ask for than playing and scoring against one of the biggest teams in the country.
“I got Goal of the Month for it as well, which is great - it was a proud moment.”
Asked about Redknapp’s comments, Cochrane said: “It was good to get compliments from big names in football like Harry Redknapp, but I have to make sure there is more of that, it’s down to me.
“I was amazed he knew who I was!”
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