Craig Thomson – What A Find For Hearts

What a revelation the performances of young Craig Thomson have been since he came into the Hearts first team a few weeks ago.

Right-back was one of THE problem positions for manager Csaba Laszlo this season following the departure of long-term custodian of that position Robbie Neilson (who always had his critics too!), and this was only further enhanced when earmarked successor to Robbie, Eggert Jonsson, sustained an injury that will keep him out of action for a couple of months.

Thomson found himself brought to the fore on the night that Hearts faced Dinamo Zagreb at Tynecastle looking to claw back a four-goal deficit. A pretty daunting prospect I’m sure you’ll agree as far as debuts go for a 19 year-old, but he was one of the best players on the park that night, and has since continued his impressive form against St Johnstone and now Kilmarnock.

Thomson appears to be a natural in the right-back role, although he has several qualities that could eventually see him playing in a more attacking position. The one thing that stands out the most in his play is the way that he strikes the ball – it’s almost Beckham-esque the way that he beautifully executes his crosses and free-kicks, and in last night’s game against Kilmarnock I actually lost count of the number of quality deliveries he put into the penalty area. At times he’ll drive a cross over aggressively so it zips across the turf for someone to attack, and at others he’ll flight it in almost like a golfer striking a pitching wedge, and on the evidence I’ve seen his level of accuracy is very impressive indeed.

We shouldn’t start getting carried away about the guy after three games, but Thomson certainly does appear to have a very good future if he can develop well under Csaba and co. It’ll be interesting to see how often he’ll start when the likes of Jonsson and Zaliukas are fit again, as like many fans I’m not overly convinced that either of those guys are likely to make particularly effective right-backs, nor is Bouzid who has also been touted for that position. Perhaps it will all come down to how Thomson continues to perform – if he does hit a slight dip in form or has one particularly torrid match, then Csaba may well feel that he needs to be taken out of the limelight for a spell in order to preserve his youthful enthusiasm. But if he keeps on improving, it’s going to be very difficult for the manager to leave him out.

In the meantime though, let’s just enjoy the fact that Hearts have another really promising young player in their team. If only we had a striker who could thrive on the sort of service this guy can provide!