Elton Kabangu shines on his Hearts debut, scoring twice and setting up another goal in a comeback win against Brechin City.
Neil Critchley lauded Elton Kabangu following the on-loan striker's brace in the second half on his full debut, ensuring Hearts avoided a Scottish Cup upset at Brechin. The Royal Union Saint-Gilloise forward netted twice and provided another assist as the Jambos fought back to defeat the Highland League leaders who had taken the lead through Scott Bright's stunning strike at a packed Glebe Park.
Kabangu finalized a loan move from the Belgian club at the start of the transfer window - with Tynecastle holding the option to make the deal permanent in the summer - but his debut was delayed due to government bureaucracy. However, after finally being cleared to start, following a brief appearance off the bench against Aberdeen last weekend, Critchley believes Hearts fans should be excited. He stated: “Elton showed what he’s about. He’s a finisher around the goal and inside the penalty area. He will bring energy and plenty of enthusiasm and endeavour at the top end of the pitch. He’s hard to handle for 90 minutes. He’s got good balance between speed and endurance so he can keep running for long periods and that means it’s hard for defenders to keep him quiet. “I’m sure the fans are excited by what they’ve seen of him tonight. And coming on against Aberdeen I thought he made a difference. “The start for him has been positive. But he’s not played a lot of football for a period and it will take him time to adapt to the style of play and his new teammates. Even this week we’ve been showing him different things about how we defend, it’s different from his last club. And where the runs and what we want him to do in attack. He has a lot to think about and we don’t want to overload him. We want him to relax into our environment and hopefully he will flourish.” Yan Dhanda equalized the match after St Johnstone loanee Bright’s screamer. An own goal from former Jambos Kevin McHattie edged Hearts ahead before Kabangu’s double. Critchley commented: 'It's job done. It was a good goal from Yan, that settled us down. 'Scoring soon into the second half settled us down, we played some nice football. We've done the job and we're into the next round. 'It was a great strike for them but up until that we'd been doing OK in the game. The longer it goes at 1-0 the nerves and anxiety grows, we needed that moment of quality to get us back in the game. Once we settled down, remembered how to play good football we started to make things more comfortable for ourselves.
Hearts Scottish Cup Elton Kabangu Brechin City Neil Critchley Yan Dhanda Kevin Mchattie
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