Hearts boss Frail delights at Elliot brace but asks for fans' patience

Published on Monday 3 March 2008 09:32

HEARTS coach Stephen Frail today hailed two-goal Calum Elliot – then urged supporters to give his new partnership with Christian Nade time to develop.

The 20-year-old striker has come in for criticism from his own fans this season but showed just what he is capable of with a double against Craig Brewster's Inverness side on Saturday.

The young Scotland star hit the back of the net twice, despite being forced to take a pain-killing injection before kick-off as the result of a rib injury, while strike partner Nade was struggling with a pelvis problem.

Despite signs that the much-maligned Elliot and Nade pairing could yet pay off for the Jambos though, Frail insisted that it is still too early to judge the duo and said: "It's early. They've played three games together and we've won two. It's something for us to work on. The two of them are clever enough and there is an understanding there. Hopefully the loss of Velicka will not be felt that badly.

"Nade is really struggling with a pelvis injury at the minute, Calum took an injection an hour and a half before kick-off for this rib injury he has. So it was a great performance from them under the circumstances.

"Elliot and Nade are quite clever. The way Calum has been coached is all down to the coaches at Hearts' academy. I'm not taking any credit for it, it's down to people like John Murray and John McGlynn. You can see Christian has been coached that way as well. They don't make the same runs, they try to do opposite things from each other and it'll help Calum having someone like Christian up there to hold the ball."

And Frail was delighted to see Elliot fire home his first goals for the club since September, adding: "He led the line for about 16 or 17 games a year or so back on his own. He showed then he was a good player and he didn't become a bad player overnight. He was an integral part of the Scotland team that went to the final of the Under-19 European Championships and was great in that tournament. What he maybe lacks is just that tiny bit of pace but his vision and cleverness bring other people into the game."

Meanwhile Frail was expecting Jose Goncalves to report for training today after returning to Portugal at the end of last week.

The defender is believed to have flown home when he was told that he would not be included in the squad for the Inverness game.

Frail added: "It's an internal matter, something I wasn't going to accept after the game on Wednesday. I've spoken to Jose, he accepts he was wrong. As far as we're concerned, that's the end of the matter. Jose will be back in on Monday morning for work."