Hamill's penalties request

Jamie Hamill has no problems taking on the Hearts heavyweights to stake his claim as number one penalty taker at Tynecastle. Hamill, signed from Kilmarnock in the summer, confidently took the ball from burly striker John Sutton when Jim Jefferies' men were awarded a spot-kick five minutes from the end of Sunday's friendly against Royal Antwerp and smashed in the winner with his first goal for the Gorgie club.Fellow new signing Sutton took the penalties for Motherwell last season while the Jambos' regular penalty taker, the muscular Kevin Kyle, is still recovering from a hip problem.However, Hamill revealed an impressive record from the spot to back up his belief that he is now the man in possession."Big Sutts grabbed the ball and I just asked him for it," he said."I think he scored a few last season but I scored more."I think it was eight all in. I scored seven and got the rebound for one and I think I scored about four or five in previous seasons."So I was willing to step up."I had a laugh in training with big Kev because he said he was hitting them when he was fit."He's a big boy and you don't want to argue with him - but I think I will get to the ball quicker."Hopefully in the next game I'm playing we will get a penalty and I will take it."The versatile 24-year-old was praised by Jefferies for his performance in the right-back position."It's different going out there as a Hearts player - I didn't get as much abuse, although that might come," he joked."I'm looking forward to the season and it's good to play at Tynecastle as a Hearts player."The fans are brilliant and it will be good playing here this season."The former Scotland under-21 player is suspended for the Clydesdale Bank Premier League opener against Rangers at Ibrox next Saturday.However, Hamill is confident that Jefferies - who has also added midfielder Mehdi Taouil and defender Danny Grainger to his squad - has the tools at his disposal to shock the champions."Why shouldn't we be confident?" he said."Rangers haven't signed that many players and we've added to the squad."We have two players for every position."We still have a lot of the boys from last season but it's good to add new faces."It was also good to add the players at the start of the summer instead of them coming in dribs and drabs."We can't dwell on them too much. With the squad we have, we are capable of beating anyone on our day so hopefully we can get three points."Hamill added: "I'm suspended for the first two games of the season, so it is a difficult situation for me."Going to Ibrox for the first game of the season and not being able to feature is difficult."But there's nothing I can do about it, I just have to get on with things."

Source: Team_Talk