Craig Halkett has pressure on two fronts. He’s proving to be a key player as Hearts have remained at the summit of Scottish football for months, and the big defender is about to become a dad for the first time in the next four or five weeks, an issue which he said was “a good distraction”.
The imminent baby helps the 30-year-old switch off from the pressure of being in a squad leading the William Hill Premiership table at the business end of the season.
The Jambos travel along the M8 to face Motherwell on Saturday (kick-off 8pm) and the former Kirkintilloch High School pupil knows what to expect from The Steelmen and the game comes on the back of Monday’s 2-1 victory over Rangers when Halkett subdued the Ibrox club’s £8m striker, Youssef Chermiti.
The former Rangers and Livingston defender admitted there was “relief” in the dressing-room after the Rangers win and he said it was difficult getting to sleep after the Rangers clash.
Halkett added: “It was an amazing result for us. The build-up during the week was huge.”
Monday’s game was, he recalled, the loudest atmosphere he has played in during his seven years at Tynecastle and Halkett does not remember ever playing a game at 5.30pm on a Monday during his career, an “unusual” occurrence.
The player, who has endured a number of injuries in recent years, said: “It (the 5.30pm kick-off) was a bit strange but, thankfully, everybody turned up and we managed to get three points.”
The entire dressing-room at Tynecastle realised the importance of the fixture as they bid to win the title for the first time since 1960, but he said: “We were in the next day and it was forgotten about. Our focus is on Saturday.”
All three meetings with the Fir Park side have been close, said Halkett, who said their weekend rivals have enjoyed a great season under Danish-born boss, Jens Berthel Askou, but Halkett he declared: “We will train hard this week and come up with a game plan.
“We are in a great position and we are all buzzing. We had a great result on Monday and we have another big game on Saturday. They players are at the top of their game right now and they (Motherwell) have loads of rotations and drag you all over the place. It will be difficult.
”We will focus on ourselves and try to win the game.”
Craig Gordon, Hearts’ experienced goalkeeper, is probably the only player in the Tynecastle dressing-room who has been “over this course” before, but Halkett said the squad were in good spirits and taking it one game at a time.
Halkett revealed: “I think everyone has had different conversations with Craig who has not been involved as much as he would have liked due to injuries and other things, but to have someone with Craig’s experience in the dressing-room can only be good for everyone.
”Everyone has been pulling in the right direction and everyone has their feet on the ground. Everyone knows how difficult things can be so the full focus is on Saturday. Then we will talk about the next game (home to Falkirk, 19.45) on Wednesday night.”
MEDIA TALK: Craig Halkett meets the media at The Oriam. Picture Nigel Duncan
