Wednesday, December 13, 2006

Novotny impresses in Dens trial

CZECH TRIALIST Ondrej Novotny made a promising initial impression on Dundee yesterday, scoring for them in a 3-2 win over neighbours Dundee United in a hastily arranged bounce game at Dens Park.
And the 18-year-old FK Jablonec front man last night revealed his hopes of following fellow countryman Jiri Jarosik and Libor Sionko into the SPL.
“I’ve watched Jiri Jarosik since he came to Scotland,” said Novotny, who hopes to join the Dark Blues on loan for the remainder of the season. “I saw him play very well against Man United in the Champions League when Celtic won and that tells me that Scotland is a very good place to come and play and, of course, I would like to.
“Jarosik is quite a big name in Czech football—maybe not as big as Pavel Nedved—but he’s still well known having played in the Premiership and now at a big club like Celtic.
“There is obviously Libor Sionko as well at Rangers who scored for them in their last game.
“What I’ve noticed about Scottish football is that it’s very fast, physical and there’s a lot of hard tackles.
“But I like that style of play. I think I could handle it and it would make me a bigger, stronger player.
“That was what struck me after watching the St Johnstone v Dundee game last weekend.
“I enjoyed the game against Dundee United. It was competitive like all derbies and that’s something I like.
“I’m here on trial until Sunday so we’ll wait and see what happens after that. It will be up to my club and Dundee if something is going to happen.”
The friendly was put together after United’s planned reserve fixture with St Mirren and a closed doors game the Dark Blues had organised at Stirling Albion fell victim of the weather.
Meanwhile, news that Steve Tosh is being released by Gretna has provoked interest at Dens