Hartson Praise For Craig Beattie
Thursday, 9th Dec 2010 07:58

John Hartson says you could see from a young age the potential in Craig Beattie

Hsrtson was returning the compliment after Beattie said that his first goal on saturday was down to some of the things that he used to watch Hartson do when they were together at Celtic.

And now Hartson has spoken of those times together and paid tribute to Beattie with the Swans now potentially seeing the best of him

“He is a talented boy, no doubt about that,” Hartson told the Western mail.

“I watched him come through the youth ranks and when Martin O’Neill first called him to train with the first team he didn’t look out of place at all.

“Young lads would come up from the reserves and youth sides all the time but straight away you could see he had great ability and a lot of potential.

“He’s had his problems but he’s turned into a fine player and his goals on Saturday have showed what he can do.

“The first was excellent because he got across his man really well, and the second was just a piece of brilliance.

“That’s what he can bring. He’s scored goals like that on the training ground all the time, but doing it out on the pitch is great to see. He’s starting to show the Swansea supporters what he’s about.

“I think there were a lot of people, Brendan Rodgers included, who might have been concerned when Marvin Emnes went back to Middlesbrough after he had done well with a couple of goals

“But credit to Craig, he has slotted in and taken his opportunity. And I’m delighted for him because he’s getting the rewards for some excellent performances with goals.

“I’ve seen him three or four times this season and I thought he’s done really well each time.

“He’s had his injuries that have held him back but he’s had a few 90 minutes now.

“He’ll be delighted too because he’s put some hard work in but now he’s finding the net again and every striker just loves to score.

“I’m not going to start saying what he is going to do or not going to do because I don’t want to put pressure on him,

“There is good competition in there with Stephen Dobbie and David Cotterill who can play in that role.

“And Craig will be just delighted to be training every day after the amount of injuries he’s suffered. He missed a lot of football so to be out playing again will be huge for him.

“But with the talent he’s got and the performance levels he is capable of there should be more goals to come from him.”

Photo: Action Images

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