James Penrice opens up on Hibs Hearts sliding doors moment and how James Wilson is a 'no filter' Jambos superstar

Tynecastle ace has been blown away by teenage sensation and admits he brings back memories of a difficult time in his career.

James Penrice looks across the Hearts dressing room and is amazed by what he sees on a daily basis from schoolboy sensation James Wilson.

It’s even not just the quality the 17-year-old striker has brought to the table before he’s even sat the last of his Higher exams. It’s the maturity, strength and, more than anything else, self belief that has wowed Penrice over the last few months in Gorgie. More than a year has passed since Wilson first blasted onto the scene as a 16-year-old Jambos’ academy graduate. A decade ago, at the same age, Penrice was facing a very different set of circumstances as his youth days across the city at Hibs were brought to a crashing halt.

It was a sliding doors moment for the teenager. But looking back, he insists that day he was shown the door at Easter Road was the making of him as a footballer. The boot up the backside at a pivotal age when dreams can be shattered by the slightest dip in dedication.

Few Hearts fans will even know the summer signing who will line up in maroon in this afternoon’s massive derby clash in Leith was once on the books of their arch rivals. But Penrice admits his exit from Hibs was the wake-up call he needed to realise the gift he’d been given was in danger of being wasted.

He grabbed the second chance handed to him by Partick Thistle and won a move to his hometown Livingston where his performances under David Martindale led to this season’s switch to Tynecastle. And it’s in Gorgie he’s served a daily reminder of how precious those years between 15 and 17 can be to aspiring footballers.

Wilson netted his sixth goal of the season in Wednesday’s win over St Mirren. And just one mention of his name sets Penrice off as he previews Sunday’s monumental derby at Easter Road.

He said: “Seventeen, honestly… he’s sitting there telling people what to do! But I think it's probably the best thing for him. I was brought up that you don't talk to first team players at 16 and 17. But James’ just got no filter, he’s full of confidence.

“He said to me the other day he's on a goal drought. A goal drought? You're 17! That was the thing I said to him, just focus on everything else. I’m buzzing that he's got his goal against St Mirren because it will make him happy.

“He’s probably the smartest in the dressing room and the strongest. I kid you not. He's a brilliant, brilliant player. He's dealing with the physicality. He's out jumping centre-halves that are huge. He's been brilliant. A real revelation.

“In the gym, he's the strongest player. He's lifting the most weights. I came in and they said last season he put on 10kg or something in muscle. He works extremely hard. His movement alone is what the boys talk about. He's a constant menace to defenders. He's always on the shoulder and he's quick. To be 17 years old, he's got the world in front of him.”

That’s not quite how Penrice felt as he contemplated his next move after leaving Hibs at a similar stage of his young life. At one point he was forced to look at online courses as a gateway to an entirely different career.

Ahead of returning to Easter Road this afternoon he said: “I was probably at Hibs from under 12s to maybe under 17s. It was a very professional academy. But I was a bit immature. I was at a point where I wasn't really loving football.

“I didn't really want to go to training. It seemed a chore instead of loving it. But it’s very much different now and I'm thankful it happened because that's what I needed. There's no grudges. It was the best thing that happened to me. I’m thankful they let me go. It was a wee wake-up call to me and the way I was living my life.

“It was the season they went down in the Hamilton play-off game, 2014. I kind of knew it was coming. Ryan Porteous was a year younger, Kevin Nisbet was a year above, but he left and went to Thistle, Scott Martin, Oli Shaw, a good few that have went on and played with Hibs’ first team. I actually went to go back to boys' club football.

“But I knew someone at Thistle. They said they'd filled their squad and I was just going to go and train. Four months later I was playing with the under 20s at 16. It got me back loving the game. I'm obviously very thankful for Thistle. I had nothing else.

“That's why James should stick in at school. It was all in or nothing when I went to Thistle. Luckily I got a 20s deal. When we got relegated to League One, I was looking at online courses to do other stuff because I thought football was done.

“I managed to win the league and get my move to Livingston. It's been a very up and down road. I don't take anything for granted. I’m now at a huge club and I'm proud to be on the shirt. I love it here.”

Hearts can move to within a point of Hibs if they win this afternoon’s derby in Leith. Both sides are on remarkable runs of form with David Gray’s side unbeaten in 14 games while the Jambos have lost just once in 11.

And Penrice admits the lingering pain of the Boxing Day defeat at Tynecastle will spur Neil Critchley's troops on in enemy territory. He said: “These are the fixtures that get brought up the most. It's my first year but I know how big they are.

“They're kind of the stand-out fixtures for the season and when you get beaten in one of them it hurts. Now we've got to use that to go again. Both teams are picking up results but we'll go there full of confidence and go there and try and get three points.”