Watch Hearts player score debut goal with 'beautiful whippage' as he makes instant impact after transfer exit
The Hearts loanee wasted no time integrating himself to his new surroundings with an impressive effort.
Hearts loanee Sander Kartum has had a scoring start to life in the Isuzu A-League, scoring a perfectly-weighted curled effort just four minutes into his debut.
The Norwegian was sent out on loan to New Zealand outfit Wellington Phoenix by Derek McInnes until the end of the season to help him get some more minutes under his belt, having not featured for Hearts since their 4-0 Premier Sports Cup group stage victory over Dumbarton in July.
The 30-year old was signed from SK Brann in January by Neil Critchley on a two and a half year deal and has only made 11 Jambos appearances since. However, when brought on with 10 minutes to for Phoenix against Newcastle Jets, he wasted no time getting off the mark.
Hearts loanee bags wonder-goal on debut
Phoenix were 3-0 down away to the Jets in the 82nd minute, when manager Giancarlo Italiano, also known as ‘Chiefy’ by their supporters, brought Kartum on for his first experience of the A-League. Four minutes later, the midfielder picked up the ball unmarked at the right hand side of the box. He set himself, got the ball out his feet and blasted his curved left footed effort past goalkeeper James Delianov.
The Jets were eventual 4-1 winners, but Kartum has hit the ground running so early into his career at his new club. Phoenix’s X admin was clearly excited with the goal despite the scoreline, posting : “DEBUT GOAL FOR SANDER KARTUM! Beautiful whippage into the top corner from a tight angle, and that's why Chiefy signed him!”
Kartum has Hearts’ Aussie star to thank for A-League switch
Hearts’ fan favourite midfielder Cammy Devlin worked with ‘Chiefy’ when he was at Phoenix himself in 2021 before moving to Hearts. Italiano revealed the Australian International was a ‘decisive factor’ in getting Kartum’s short-term deal over the line this January.
He said: “I remember when he played at Brann, there was another player that I was looking at and I recall seeing him and thinking that he was a very good number 10. In that role he was more like, when he played in Norway, he was more like an eight-10 box to box, just a different style. I liked him because he could dribble quite well, loved taking on players, really comfortable in the pocket and he was a hard worker.
“When he was put forward to me, I felt happy because I knew of the player already and I felt as though he would complement our squad quite well. I could probably say that Cam was probably the decisive factor in the transfer. He had a lot of good words and I spoke to Cam early on about potentially looking at him and I just wanted to get a character reference. I probably made that mistake and he went out and started recruiting for me!”