WHEN your old man is a club legend, it was always going to take something special for Altrincham defender Sam Heathcote to make an impression.
But the 18-year-old, son of Alty great Graham Heathcote, did just that by scoring the winner with just his second ever touch for the Robins.
Centre-half Heathcote Jnr, was thrown on by boss Lee Sinnott at left midfield for the last few minutes of last Saturday's visit of Cheltenham.
With the game poised at 1-1 he was probably more expected to help secure the point. But that was before he popped up in the 95th minute to fire the National League outfit to three points.
“My dad came up to me and said, ‘You've only got another 152 goals to catch up to me,' and walked off!” Sam told The NLP. “He was only messing about though. I know how proud he is.
“I've seen the pictures and I look a bit shocked. My family and friends have been sending me the video of the goal on facebook and twitter so it's been nice.”
With fans used to seeing a young Sam at the club during his dad's heyday, the reluctant hero received a standing ovation in the clubhouse and even moved some to tears.
“I work at the club as a coach in the community so I'm around the assistant manager Neil Tolson daily, as well as the chairman Grahame Rowley and his wife Karen and all the others in the office,” Sam said.
“I know some of them got emotional when I scored and I got a standing ovation in the clubhouse – I don't like that sort of thing. You don't know what to do. But maybe because of my dad's closeness to the club it was a big thing for people.”
Graham is a bona fide great at Moss Lane. The 61-year played more than 500 times, won two Alliance titles and the 1977-78 FA Trophy.
He was also part of the famous FA Cup giantkillers of the 70s and 80s as they beat the likes of Sheffield United and Birmingham.
Memory
Graham then went onto be coach, assistant manager, secretary and manager when he took the club to Non-League's top tier in 2004 with a play-off win against Eastbourne Borough at Stoke City.
“Stoke is probably my first memory,” said Sam. “I was only young but I was mascot and it was a good day.
“I always knew how highly regarded he was at the club – he always reminded me! I'm joking, but you just knew because he's been here for years.
“There are players still in the first team now who played for him so they often tell me stories. Shaun Densmore told me a good one. One pre-season they were doing these runs. They had to complete a certain amount of metres in a certain amount of time.
“But no one was finishing in the right time. Even the really fit ones were just off it. Apparently my dad wasn't happy and he was really shouting at them.
“Then at the end of the session he sat everyone down and said, ‘Lads I'm sorry. I marked the run out wrong'. They'd been doing an extra 100m! I found that funny.”
Following his dramatic sprint onto the scene, the big defender is focusing on more game time.
“It was just good to get a chance to play,” he added. “I'm hoping I'll be involved in the games to come.”
*This article first appeared in The Non-League Paper on Sunday, September 13
