No Such Thing As A Sure Bet

13 September 2013 20:46
Hearts want to continue their good start to the season and eat into the gap between them and the Buddies once more

Hearts winger Jamie Walker insists the Jambos' fired-up players are a safe bet to avoid relegation despite what the bookies say. The administration-hit Tynecastle side were handed a 15-point punishment at the start of the season for breaching insolvency rules and were immediately installed as the 8/13 favourites to drop out of the Scottish Premiership at the end of the season. However, nobody appears to have told the Hearts players and two wins and a draw from their first five games has seen them reduce the gap separating them from second-bottom St Mirren to just nine points. Now with champions Celtic heading to Gorgie on Saturday lunchtime, Walker insists their pre-season critics have only made the team more determined to go on and complete a remarkable escape.He said: "It was a massive inspiration for us. Everyone was against us, the odds in the bookies were against us. Everyone thought we were going to go down. But we've had a good start. We had some hard games but we've done well and everyone is buzzing ahead of Saturday. Now we want to prove the people who doubted us wrong. There is still a massive gap to St Mirren and we know it is going to be hard but we believe we have the quality to do it. We would take 11th place and a shot at the play-offs now but the start we have had has been amazing and now we are looking to go as high as we can."Celtic's summer signing Steven Mouyokolo will be out of action for six months after suffering a complete rupture of an Achilles tendon. The defender returned to France where he has had surgery on the injury he picked up at training on Monday. Manager Neil Lennon said: "It is devastating for him. He has worked so hard. It was an innocuous thing. He was running for the ball and we heard this pop. We thought he had clipped someone's ankle but obviously he knew straight away that something was wrong and he went over to the side."

Source: ScottishFitba

Source: FOOTYMAD