Tynecastle teenager came off after 45 minutes at Celtic Park
Being substituted at half-time is a trying experience to befall any footballer. When it happens for the first time at the age of 18, with your team 3-0 down in front of 60,000 people at Celtic Park, it is especially galling. That’s pretty much how Saturday panned out for the Hearts forward James Wilson.
Six days previously, he scaled the crest of an emotional wave after becoming Scotland’s youngest ever internationalist against Greece at Hampden Park. No-one expected the crushing low which followed for the player. To Wilson’s credit, he spoke openly to the Edinburgh News about it and didn’t shirk any questions. Maturity is one of his strengths.
Hearts head coach Neil Critchley stated after Saturday’s match that Wilson was withdrawn purely for tactical reasons. It was, nonetheless, a chastening affair for a player who would have arrived in Glasgow still high on adrenaline after his international exploits. He is determined to prise positives from the disappointment.
It was a learning curve. I haven’t had that before, so it was a new experience. Hopefully I’ll change that,” explained Wilson regarding his substitution. “It was tough. We tried to press a little bit and get after them. They broke the press and scored three goals, which is probably quite fair from our point of view, but it was a tough 45 minutes.”
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Perhaps exacerbating the frustration was that header. With Celtic leading 2-0, Wilson mounted a counter-attack and clipped a ball towards captain Lawrence Shankland inside the opposition penalty area. It inadvertently bounced out to left-back James Penrice, who delivered a perfect cross to the back post. By then, Wilson was in position six yards from goal for a free header. He nodded the ball downwards but across the face of goal and out of play.
“Yeah, I’ve got to score. I try to head it back across goal and just overcook it,” he admitted. “I see Elton there, so it’s one of those ones where you aim it to the far post. If you head it back too much, he taps it in. If you score, you score, but it was one of those unlucky ones where you put it in between the two of them. It’s probably the right idea. You’ve got to score, you’ve got to hit the target.
“The game is quicker when you play top teams. It’s a learning curve. You do see the kind of change in tempo, the change in pace. Celtic are a good team. On the day, they deserved to win.
Again, the honest assessment is refreshing. Critchley absolved the youngster of any blame when discussing his decision to replace Wilson with the Australian Calem Nieuwenhof at half-time. The need for an extra midfielder was obvious and the teenage striker was simply the man sacrificed.
“Yes, it was just tactical. Nothing to do with how he played,” said Critchley. “You could just sense a little bit of frustration in the crowd [early in the game]. The goalkeeper’s kicked it off the pitch a few times and then unfortunately they scored with their first attack. We just lost the middle of the pitch a little bit and they played through us slightly too easily.
“And their second goal again, a real bit of quality to be fair, which is what they can produce. And you need those moments to hit the outside of the post and go out, and it didn’t. We had a great chance to go 2-1 with Jamesy Wilson and, that’s it, you know you’re not going to get many chances, you have to take them. And at 3-0, the game’s gone and then it was a bit of damage limitation really, which is not the team or what I ever want us to be.
