SATURDAY was a day of mixed emotions for Lawrence Shankland. He knew he wouldn’t be starting for Hearts as Celtic came to town after Robbie Neilson opted for Stephen Humphrys to lead the line at Tynecastle. He hoped to come on at some point during the contest and make his presence felt, thereby making his case for a starting spot for Thursday night’s Europa Conference League match against RFS. And boy, did he do just that.
The centre-forward’s hat-trick – the eighth of his career – was the first from a Hearts player against Celtic in the league in almost 50 years yet the 27-year-old still ended up on the losing side in an enthralling contest in Gorgie. Despite equalising in the first half, taking the lead in the second and then clawing back an equaliser to make it 3-3, Greg Taylor’s 76th-minute goal proved to be the decisive one as Ange Postecolgou’s men left with all three points.
With VAR intervening on numerous occasions as the technology made its debut at the weekend – Shankland’s first goal came via a penalty awarded by the video assistant, while his third arrived courtesy of a retaken spot-kick – it was a frenetic encounter in the capital where both sides threw caution to the wind.
“Unusual,” came Shankland’s summary of the afternoon. “It’s not often you score a hat-trick and lose. For us, it’s disappointing to score three at home against Celtic. You’d think you’d have a real good chance to get something out of the game, and go and concede four. So overall it’s a disappointing day.
“It’s a long time [since a Hearts player scored a hat-trick against Celtic]. I can add myself to that list now so for me personally it’s great. But, more importantly, for the team it’s not ideal.”
The centre-forward added: “We should have at least got something out of it. When you score three goals against Celtic, you don’t want to put all that work in and get nothing from the game.
“It’s moments, it wasn’t an overall bad performance. They scored two goals by following in and tapping it into an empty net and that can be avoided. That’s something we need to work at if we are going to get better.”
Shankland eventually sealed his hat-trick against Celtic thanks to a second-half penalty but it could have very easily been a different story. The striker’s initial spot-kick was saved by Joe Hart and although his scuffed rebound allowed Josh Ginnelly to fire the ball home, it appeared as though the former Ayr United and Dundee United man had blown his chance to get his all-important third of the afternoon third.
An intervention from VAR, however, offered Shankland a second bite at the cherry and the penalty had to be retaken. This time, he made no mistake as he slammed the ball home in emphatic fashion.
“I have missed a sitter from the rebound and Ginnelly has managed to get it in,” he said. “When they checked the goal, I was thinking ‘was he offside?’. I didn’t know what they were checking. Obviously they gave another penalty.
“I was worried he was offside. I was just thinking automatically. I knew I had played the ball forward. I didn’t know if he was ahead or whatever. I was just worried that something was going to happen. Thankfully, I shouldn’t have been worried and it was actually a good turnout for us.”
It was Humphrys’ first-half injury that resulted in Shankland being introduced to the fray on Saturday and he is hopeful of a starting berth on Thursday night. He has, after all, made a rather compelling case for selection.
“That’s it,” Shankland said. “But listen, there is a squad there that needs to get used. The manager has got the hardest job and he needs to make decisions. He can only play 11 players.
“The gaffer spoke with me on Friday and explained what he was going to do and I accepted that quickly and got over it. I knew turning up against Celtic that I could have a part to play and I was ready for it. Thankfully enough I could make an impact.
“That’s all you can do. When you are on the pitch you just want to do as well as you can for the club – as does every boy in that changing room. I know the characters in there and that is the way everyone is.
“It is not through a lack of effort, everyone is trying their best and we are all sure that we can turn things and get better results. We are all looking forward to Thursday.”
