Patient but perplexed, striker Sutton prepares to play long game at Hearts

John Sutton always hoped he would hear roars of approval from the Hearts supporters after signing a three-year deal with the club in the summer.

However, the striker just didn’t imagine these cheers would mostly come as he made his way from the bench to warm up, something he has been doing with infuriating regularity since being mysteriously dropped earlier this season. Sutton scored twice in new manager Paulo Sergio’s third game in charge, when Aberdeen were beaten 3-0 at Tynecastle. However, he has been infrequently sighted since starting the 5-0 defeat to Tottenham Hotspur in the following game. The three-minute cameo he was granted on Saturday as a late substitute against Dunfermline was his first taste of league football since a similarly short appearance as substitute against St Mirren last month. The start he did make against Ayr United in the Co-Operative Insurance Cup last month did Sutton few favours since Hearts suffered a shock defeat on penalties at Somerset Park.

Sutton is nevertheless sanguine about his prospects at Hearts. Sergio has not outlined what, if anything, he has done wrong to be excluded.

“I asked initially why I was out of the team,” revealed Sutton yesterday, as he helped launch the re-branding of Big Hearts Community Trust, the club’s community programme. “He [Sergio] said I had some qualities and advised me to keep training. That is what I have been doing. I feel my performances in training are good enough. But I am not the manager, I don’t pick the team.”

He is perhaps sad that Jim Jefferies no longer has this responsibility. The former manager was sacked just three games into the season, and with Sutton – who Jefferies signed from Motherwell – having started each match. The striker has not been helped by a combination of Hearts’ recent good form and the impact made by Ryan Stevenson in a lone striker’s role. The former Ayr United player has excelled and scored in the 2-0 win over Celtic earlier this month. However, the fans are still proving supportive of Sutton, and like him remain perplexed by his sudden fall from favour.

“I thought I got off to a decent start,” said Sutton. “I got a couple of goals and I thought my performances were pretty good.

“It’s one of those things. There is no point feeling sorry for yourself. The fans seem to have been pretty good to me. Everytime I go to warm up from the substitutes’ bench they offer me a lot of encouragement. Hopefully I will get a run of games at some stage and a few chances will fall for me, preferably from a couple of yards out with the ‘keeper beaten and I then stick it in the back of the net.”

Sutton is being too modest. Hearts’ fans welcomed the arrival of the bustling, prolific forward. His signing was deemed particularly crucial in light of Kevin Kyle’s long-term injury woes. “The disappointing thing is that I felt I got off to a pretty good start,” he reflected.

“I thought I’d kick on from there. Sometimes when you are out of the team it’s frustrating because you feel you haven’t played your best. I guess it’s a bit more annoying for me because that’s not been the case with myself.

“I haven’t really played, except for the time at Ayr in Hurricane Katrina. It’s disappointing. But that’s football. There’s no prizes for a sob story. There’s a price for getting on the pitch and doing okay.”

Sutton feels he is in the physical condition to do that and is eyeing this Sunday’s clash with Rangers at Tynecastle Park. He won’t wish to have need to use one of the two tickets he carried with him yesterday in order to see the match. But he can’t be confident of even a place among the substitutes.

“It’s challenging in terms of my career,” he said. “But it’s not that challenging. I get the chance to play football and work on my fitness. People would pay money to do that. It’s not devastating to my life.”

He is perhaps conscious of the fact that managers rarely stay long at Tynecastle. He is certainly determined to stick it out at the club, having settled in Midlothian with his family.

“In football things change quickly,” he said. “I am here for quite a long time. I have to give myself the chance to do well. Obviously it is difficult to do a lot with three minutes to go. Ideally you want a run of four or five games to get playing again. But the fans have been brilliant. Everyone has been really encouraging. I signed a three-year deal. Hopefully in those three years I can pay that back and show that I was a decent signing for them.”