Jamie Walker of Hearts stung by Scott Brown '˜cheat' claim

As a player, being publicly castigated by a peer is probably the biggest insult. But when you are the subject of a verbal grenade thrown by the man that is the Scotland national team captain, that reprimand is even more cutting.

Hearts' Jamie Walker was disappointed with the comments from Celtic's Scott Brown. Picture: Paul Devlin/SNS

Naturally, Hearts playmaker
Jamie Walker did not take too kindly to being branded a cheat by Celtic skipper Scott Brown following his diving storm.

Walker won and scored a controversial penalty for the Gorgie side on the opening weekend of the Premiership season after falling to the ground under a challenge from Celtic defender Kieran Tierney.

Brendan Rodgers’ side still won the 7 August clash 2-1, courtesy of Scott Sinclair’s late strike but that did not stop midfielder Brown, who was also the Scotland captain at the time, uttering a ferocious post-match response.

Walker served a retrospective two-game SFA ban for conning referee John Beaton despite the club launching a defence of the player.

Even though Hampden chiefs effectively agreed with Brown, Walker reckons the Celtic player was out of order with his comments. Walker said: “I was a bit disappointed in Scott Brown at the time. He was captain of the national team and to hear that from somebody like him was disappointing.

“I was disappointed to be handed the suspension, I thought I maybe had a case to get it overturned but it wasn’t to be. I’ve served my two-game ban and now I want to kick on.

“I just need to take the suspension on the chin and keep playing away. It’s part of the game and you just need to get on with it. Once I was away from here I just blanked it out but it was disappointing at the time. You can’t learn this stuff, you just need to deal with it when it comes along. I think I dealt with it quite well.

“When you leave here, you put it out of your mind and just spend time with your family.”

Walker has made three league starts since that clash, including the 3-1 win at Motherwell on their last outing.

And the talented attacker is keen to get his season kick-started. Walker, who hopes to be included in Robbie Neilson’s starting line-up for today’s visit of Dundee, added: “I’ve done reasonably well since I came back from my suspension. I’ve missed a few chances and could’ve scored a few goals.

“That’s part of football. If you keep getting into the right 
areas, the goals will come.

“As a team we’ve done reasonably well. We’re sitting third and playing quite well, but I think if we really click we could be a right good side. We’re trying to get to the highest level possible every week.”