Young players have to have made a minimum of 30 first team appearances to make the first team dressing room at Hearts. Harry Cochrane burst onto the scene as a 16-year-old and became the club’s youngest ever goalscorer in the process.
But he’s no exception to a club tradition in order to keep youngsters grounded.
Cochrane hit 30, finally
“I thought I maybe would’ve (reached 30 games quicker),” explained the midfielder.
“But obviously at the start of the season, the gaffer’s brought in quality first team players so I knew at the start of the season it was going to be a challenge.
“I was told last year that ‘second year is the hardest year’ so obviously it’s been a tough one but it’s not been helped with injuries and stuff like that so just glad to be back in about it just now.”
Peter Haring is probably the pick of the bunch of the ‘quality first team players’ that Cochrane mentions. (photo by Vagelis Georgariou/Action Plus via Getty Images)
A boy to a man
Now up to 30 first team appearances, Cochrane moves away from the youngsters. Now he’s in the first team environment where camaraderie and banter remains.
Remaining as modest as ever, he said: “Obviously it’s good for me and that’s me kind of a first team player now. I’ll still help the boys out if they need a hand with the jobs but it’s brilliant, I like it. A wee bit more like a first team player.
“Tuesday was my first day in. I came in from training with my shoes tied up so it wasn’t a great start!
“There’ll probably be more to come.”
Still just 18, Cochrane has impressed in a few Edinburgh derbies to date. (Photo by Alan Rennie/Action Plus via Getty Images)
Injuries have halted the wonderkid’s progress but he’s not letting them get the better of him and remains as determined as ever to reclaim his place in the Jambos midfield.
“It’s just hard to kind of get over that I’m not playing. It’s quite boring when you’re not so I’ve to keep the mentality that I need to keep working hard every day to get back in the team. It’s hard but thankfully, I’ve been given the opportunity again.”