HIS name may make him sound as if he is a character from a Scottish remake of Fireman Sam, but Oliver McBurnie has shown no problems in setting the heather alight for Swansea City.
Now after being called up to the Scotland U21 squad, former teammate and Motherwell centre-half Ben Heneghan has tipped him to do likewise for his country.
The two crossed paths during a spell in 2015, at Chester when the Leeds-born Scot enjoyed a fruitful loan spell from Bradford City. A move to Swansea soon followed and then loans at Newport County and Bristol Rovers, but it’s been in recent days that McBurnie’s name has been on the lips of Scotland’s supporters.
At just 20 the striker made his Swansea first-team debut on Tuesday, an occasion he marked with two goals in a 3-1 victory. Unsurprisingly it has led many to delve into Wikipedia and Google to try and learn more about the up-and-coming talent.
Heneghan is happy to paint an impressive picture of McBurnie, even if he concedes he’s not a fan of the 6ft 2ins striker’s “man bun” haircut.
“He’s got that edgy look, doesn’t he? Not sure of his new hairstyle The man bun isn’t for me, I think I’d be kicking him if he came up against me,” laughed the 22-year-old Englishman of the player tipped to start against Leicester City this afternoon in the Premier League. “He’s a very good player and it’s good to see him progress. I’m happy for him.
“You could see when he first came for a big guy he had a good touch and he was always going to score goals. You could tell he was going to push on and I think he’ll do well this season by getting more experience under his belt and see where it takes him. There’s no reason why he couldn’t make that step up if he keeps doing what he’s doing, scoring goals he’ll do all right.
“I’ve seen a few of clips of him scoring worldie goals so he’s a very good player.”
Heneghan was speaking in the wake of a 2-1 Ibrox defeat last weekend that, bizarrely, has cleansed a Motherwell team that was stuck in a rut. Heading to face Rangers on the back of two disappointing defeats and performances against Celtic and St Johnstone only to emerge revitalised and focused going into today’s visit of Dundee in the Ladbrokes Premiership.
“On Saturday I thought we did well and to lose with the last kick of the game was heart breaking,” said Heneghan. “It’s brilliant experience to play in front of crowds that big. I’ve never experienced it before so it’s another one to step out and show what I can do.
“The experience and pressure, you get that from these games. The pressure is also on the home side really so it’s good to go out and express yourself.”
Meanwhile, Dundee and on-loan Celtic striker Michael Duffy is looking to celebrate his surprise call up to the Northern Ireland squad with a goal at Fir Park this afternoon. The 22-year-old forward has been promoted from the U21s ahead of next weekend’s 2018 World Cup qualifying opener away to the Czech Republic.
“It was a shock because I hadn’t heard there might be a chance of it, I hadn’t even thought about it,” he said. “It’s a great time to be involved with Northern Ireland because of how well they did in the Euros.
“Motherwell will be a tough game. They were unlucky last week against Rangers but we’re positive about things.”
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