Injury lay-off worked out well for Hearts' Jonsson

Strong, aggressive and commanding on the ball, the 21-year-old is developing into an assured enforcer and an ideal foil for the industrious Michael Stewart.

Yet his blossoming this season owes much to the emergence of a certain youngster.

"Craig Thomson is the best thing that's happened to me," laughs Jonsson, mindful that he would probably still be playing right-back had Thomson not adjusted so seamlessly to first-team football.

Surgery on a torn stomach muscle in late August forced Jonsson onto the sidelines and prompted Hearts manager Csaba Laszlo to rethink pre-season plans for the team's utility man to adopt right-back as his permanent home.

The injury created an opening for 18-year-old Thomson, who was quickly promoted and performed with maturity beyond his tender years. By the time Jonsson regained fitness in mid-October, his deputy was undroppable.

Jonsson never did feel comfortable on the right of defence. He long hankered after a place in central midfield, the position in which he graduated from the Hearts youth academy.

Against Kilmarnock at Rugby Park on 28 November he started in his preferred role, scored and performed imperiously in a 2-1 victory. He has seldom had cause to look back.

Another goal arrived the following week at Hamilton as the player began a sequence of consistently dominant midfield displays which continued at Easter Road on Sunday.

It says much for his influence that, with Thomson currently sidelined with a knee complaint, Laszlo chose to shunt Ismael Bouzid out to right-back and even handed a debut to the unknown Lithuanian Marius Cinikas against Hibernian.

Clearly, Jonsson is now considered an irreplaceable component of the Hearts engine room.

"I've waited long enough for a chance to play there," he said in an interview with the Evening News .

"Last season I was playing everywhere. It's good to get a chance in centre mid and I just want to make sure that I use it properly.

"It's pleasing that we're getting results while I'm playing in that position. We're unbeaten in five games now.

"December was a big month for us and getting a draw at Easter Road was a decent result because it's a hard place to go. It keeps our run going so I'm happy the team is doing well again and getting up the table.

"Thommo coming into the team has been great for me. I started the season at right-back, then I got injured and needed the operation. I was out for a few weeks and, when I was fit again, Thommo was in at right-back and doing well.

"I was pleased I didn't have to go back in there and I could concentrate on getting into midfield. Finally, I got in but I can't get slack now. This is where I want to stay.

"I think I've shown now that I can play in centre midfield.

"Obviously, the manager keeps playing me there so he must think I'm doing something right.

"I'm enjoying it and I think me and Mikey are doing okay together. We've played with one another in midfield before so we understand each other."

An authoritative performance on Sunday proved especially gratifying for Jonsson following the ignominy of his last Edinburgh derby experience.

He was deployed alongside Stewart in central midfield for the first time under Laszlo when Hibernian visited Tynecastle last May, but was given the hook after just 33 minutes.

"It was half an hour into the game and it was 0-0.

"I thought it just came from nowhere, I was taken off and I'd hardly got a chance to get into the game," he recalled.

"He (Laszlo] said it was a tactical decision but, at that point, it was probably my first chance at centre midfield under the manager.

"After that I thought it would be hard to get back into midfield.

"He kept playing me at the back but now I've got the chance in centre midfield this season and that's where I want to be.

"I want to play in there because that's where I can contribute best to the team.

"I need to work hard and keep doing what I'm doing to help the cause.

"Playing midfield in a derby is difficult because it's so end-to-end. Sunday was the same although we got our goal at a good time, right at the end of the first half.

"Before that it was tough and both teams were competing. We tried to keep a clean sheet but they got a goal back early in the second half.

"Once the teams went down to ten men, there was a lot more space in midfield and both teams were really going for it. I think a draw was probably a fair result in the end."

Many at Riccarton viewed Jonsson as the natural successor to Julien Brellier when he graduated from the Hearts youth team in 2007.

Undoubtedly more disciplined and arguably better technically than the much-idolised Frenchman, he has toiled to impose himself as a defensive midfielder at first-team level.

Laszlo has employed him almost everywhere: right-back, centre-back, left-back, wide midfield, centre midfield and even centre-forward.

"I told him my thoughts last season on where I think I play best," said Jonsson. "We didn't have a meeting or anything but I gave him my opinion. I was happy just to get a game at that point, so now I'm happy it's worked out this way."

Hearts' utility man has come of age in his most recognised position, one he fully intends to call his own from now on.