Hearts' Callum Paterson aiming for more of the same after admitting that his Scotland strike even took him by surprise
CALLUM PATERSON surprised himself and his Hearts team-mates with his
acrobatic goal for Scotland under-21s last week but is hoping he can
take the boost from it into Saturday's Scottish Premiership game against
Ross County at Tynecastle.
The 19-year-old came on as a substitute at St Mirren Park to grab a spectacular late equaliser in the 1-1 draw against Georgia in the European Under-21 Championship qualifier.
It came on the back of his goal for the Jambos in their 3-1 win over Aberdeen at Pittodrie and the versatile youngster is looking for his good fortune to continue against the Staggies as Hearts try to keep survival hopes alive.
Paterson said: "We were working on set-pieces throughout the week and I wasn't meant to be anywhere near the ball to be honest, I was meant to be blocking the runner.
"It just came to me and instead of using my head, I thought I would go with my foot and I pulled it off.
"My team mates didn't know how I did it. I hadn't done it before so they were surprised.
"Hopefully I can keep that confidence going.
"Obviously it is great to be involved in your country at any level, especially the under-21s.
"It is more important to take the form back into the club situation and try to help the club.
"Hopefully we can get the three points at the weekend, we really need them."
The Gorgie club started the season with minus-15 points after going into administration and have whittled it away to minus-four, although they would have been closer to their first target - zero points - if they had held out against the Staggies in September.
The Hearts players are still smarting from the 2-1 defeat in Dingwall when two late goals from the home side gave them a win that was looking unlikely.
Paterson said: "It was a bit of a weird game at Ross County, 1-0 up until the 89th minute and they scored two goals.
"If we can try to reproduce the first 89 minutes and work on the last few minutes at the end of the game, we should be all right.
"Of course it was (sore to take), 1-0 up and doing pretty well at that time of the season as well.
"That stopped our form a wee bit but hopefully we can react better this weekend.
"The Aberdeen game gave us a massive boost.
"We have been off for a week with international break but the confidence is still there and hopefully we can do well again.
"We are focusing on getting back to zero points, as quickly as possible. We need to keep pushing.
"Hopefully in the next two or three games we should be back to zero and that would be a massive boost to everybody at the club."
The 19-year-old came on as a substitute at St Mirren Park to grab a spectacular late equaliser in the 1-1 draw against Georgia in the European Under-21 Championship qualifier.
It came on the back of his goal for the Jambos in their 3-1 win over Aberdeen at Pittodrie and the versatile youngster is looking for his good fortune to continue against the Staggies as Hearts try to keep survival hopes alive.
Paterson said: "We were working on set-pieces throughout the week and I wasn't meant to be anywhere near the ball to be honest, I was meant to be blocking the runner.
"It just came to me and instead of using my head, I thought I would go with my foot and I pulled it off.
"My team mates didn't know how I did it. I hadn't done it before so they were surprised.
"Hopefully I can keep that confidence going.
"Obviously it is great to be involved in your country at any level, especially the under-21s.
"It is more important to take the form back into the club situation and try to help the club.
"Hopefully we can get the three points at the weekend, we really need them."
The Gorgie club started the season with minus-15 points after going into administration and have whittled it away to minus-four, although they would have been closer to their first target - zero points - if they had held out against the Staggies in September.
The Hearts players are still smarting from the 2-1 defeat in Dingwall when two late goals from the home side gave them a win that was looking unlikely.
Paterson said: "It was a bit of a weird game at Ross County, 1-0 up until the 89th minute and they scored two goals.
"If we can try to reproduce the first 89 minutes and work on the last few minutes at the end of the game, we should be all right.
"Of course it was (sore to take), 1-0 up and doing pretty well at that time of the season as well.
"That stopped our form a wee bit but hopefully we can react better this weekend.
"The Aberdeen game gave us a massive boost.
"We have been off for a week with international break but the confidence is still there and hopefully we can do well again.
"We are focusing on getting back to zero points, as quickly as possible. We need to keep pushing.
"Hopefully in the next two or three games we should be back to zero and that would be a massive boost to everybody at the club."
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