Rudi Skacel Hearts stat emphasises significance of milestone for Jamie Walker

Jamie Walker knows he has achieved something very special with Hearts because even Rudi Skacel didn’t score 50 times for the club.

Hearts' Jamie Walker scores with a textbook header in the 1-1 draw with Morton on Saturday. It was the winger's 50th goal for the club (Photo by Ross MacDonald / SNS Group)

Like Walker, Skacel enjoyed two spells with Hearts but left on the second occasion while sitting on 48 goals. With two of them coming in a 5-1 Scottish Cup final win over Hibs, it’s not surprising he is still considered a legend. But Walker is rightly proud to have joined an elite band. And slightly surprised to have done so via a header. Of the half century, he reckons “four or five” have been with his head.

The latest one, which saw him rise like Willie Bauld in his pomp, secured a 1-1 draw against Morton. There’s no getting away from it, as good a goal as it was, it was a pretty humdrum context in which to reach this landmark figure. Backslapping was kept to a minimum at the end. “It was a bittersweet day,” Walker admitted.

The strike, with 19 minutes left, was expected to spark a comeback by the hosts, who fell behind to Craig McGuffie’s fine opener. But it did not pan out this way. Morton dug in and secured a draw despite being firmly under the cosh in the opening half an hour.

Jamie Walker rises high to recuse Hearts a point. Picture: SNS

It all added up to another slightly worrying performance for manager Robbie Neilson to evaluate from his seat in the stand. One tweet summed it up from the perspective of the opposition, who are meant to be in something of a crisis. No manager (Anton McElhone is in interim charge), No CEO, no kitman, no sub keeper on the bench, no striker in the starting line-up, no scouts and a skipper (Jim McAlister) who retired in mid-season. And yet they were able to take something from their first league visit to Tynecastle since 1988.

Neilson’s critics eagerly seized on the dropping of more points as further evidence that Hearts, despite their status as runaway leaders, are not progressing as hoped. The trouble stemmed from failing to score early on when they dominated.

In the end, only Walker – with one of his side’s 26 efforts on goal – found the net in a 30-minute cameo. He’s clearly not happy about being dropped from the starting line-up in a stop-start campaign for him personally. Still only 27, he has plenty of football left in him. Injuries permitting, he can surely target a century of goals for the club he loves.

“This season hasn’t been easy for me and even last season wasn’t exactly what I expected coming back, but I’ll always believe that I can get in the box and score goals,” said Walker.

“I’m delighted. It feels like my 50th has been a long time coming and it is a proud moment for me and my family. To hit 50 goals for the club I grew up supporting is something special.

“I never imagined I’d hit that number when I started. I was just delighted to be a part of the first team and just making my debut was a proud moment. To have gone on and scored so many times for the club feels like a crazy achievement. Even people like Rudi Skacel never managed to achieve that feat so it is something I can look back on fondly.”

A message from the Editor:Thank you for reading this article. We're more reliant on your support than ever as the shift in consumer habits brought about by Coronavirus impacts our advertisers.If you haven't already, please consider supporting our trusted, fact-checked journalism by taking out a digital subscription - https://www.scotsman.com/subscriptions