Josh Ginnelly turns to Kyogo for striker inspiration as Hearts star relishing Celtic double showdown

Josh Ginnelly insists he’s ready to shoot down Celtic – with a little help from unsuspecting Hoops hero Kyogo Furuhashi.

The Japanese striker might not know anything about it but he’s had a big part to play in the Hearts forward hitting top gear in recent weeks. Ginnelly’s double sank Saints on Saturday as he took his tally to eight for the season and five from his last six starts. It was ideal preparation for the biggest week of the Jambos’ season with back-to-back clashes against Celtic in the league and Scottish Cup.

And as Ginnelly prepares for Wednesday’s trip to Parkhead he revealed his burst of form is partly down to swotting up on the Premiership’s leading scorer. The Englishman opened the scoring with a deflected strike from the edge of the box before showing a striker’s instinct to burst into the six-yard box and tap home the second much like Kyogo’s cup final goals a week earlier. Ginnelly said: “There were a couple of times this season where I probably didn’t deal with that situation too well – where I’ve sort of stayed on the penalty spot.

“But I watch other strikers – and the best in the league is probably Kyogo. He is always in that right position. Look at his goals in last week’s final, he is always in that area. He’s a great player so I study some of the stuff that he does. And it worked for me on Saturday. As a player, it’s what you do. It’s not by mistake that these other strikers get into these good positions – it’s something they actually look for.

“Lee McCulloch and Gordon Forrest do a lot with us – show us clips of other players. Last week we had a meeting about the strikers’ movements and other little things. It’s a big week ahead. We will analyse Celtic. We respect them, they are a great side but