Uche Ikpeazu urged to remind Hearts fans how effective he can be with St Johnstone

The Courier

14-05-2025

Daniels Balodis knows how challenging it is to shackle St Johnstone team-mate, Uche Ikpeazu, on the training ground.
He's got a broken nose to show for it.
And the Latvian international is hoping the powerful forward's old club, Hearts, get a taste of Saints' new-found frontline physicality.
'Uche is a strong striker,' said Balodis. 'He helps our style a lot.
'It's hard to play against him and I'm happy we have him in our team now.
'He is making it hard for other defenders, creating some chances for us and getting some moments.
'It's an important game against Hearts and hopefully he can score for us against them.
'He was very apologetic to me when my nose was broken.
'I just said: 'No worries.' It's part of the game and it happens. I know that he didn't want to break my nose!
'It was just unlucky.'
The medical advice to Balodis was for him to wear a mask in matches for a few weeks.
But the centre-back decided one game, the Scottish Cup semi-final against Celtic, was enough for him.
'I didn't like it,' he said.
'It might have been a little bit risky to play without it for a while but I prefer that I can give every concentration for the game.
'So, I chose not to play with it on.
'There is the vision aspect, and also just the feeling on your face – it's not quite right.
'You cannot head the ball totally properly with the mask.
'Headers are very important for me.
'There have been some moments when it has been a bit sore.
'I got one in the mouth just below my nose. It was a hard kick, against Motherwell.
'It hurt but luckily it wasn't my nose.'
As the last fit centre-half available to Simo Valakari, Balodis knows that there is extra responsibility on his shoulders to keep the players not used to the position right.
'Of course, I am trying to help every team-mate who is on the pitch,' he said.
'The whole team is working hard to defend, not just defenders but midfielders and strikers.
'That's football these days.
'It's a dirty job, it's hard work but it's so important for the team.
'We got the job done on Saturday and we have kept it going.
'Now we have the next job to get done.
'Everything is coming at us quickly and we are looking forward to it.
'We have to think the same way as before – in every game we go for the win.
'We need these points.'
That Saints have sold out their full allocation of tickets for this game shows that they haven't lost faith in the great escape.
'The fans are unbelievable,' said Balodis. 'We can feel their support in this hard situation.
'In the last game, it helped us get the result that we needed.
'It is our aim that together we will get another good result.'