Monday January 26th 2026
Falkirk played Hibs at the weekend.
Written by Midlothian View Reporter, Ewan Hornell
Once again it was the Heriot-Watt University student stealing the headlines after his clinical Hatrick sealed a 4-1 victory for Falkirk against Hibs. Stewart returned from his loan spell at Dunfermline in January in prolific form scoring 8 goals in 12 matches for the Pars.
His return has provided a much needed frontline boost for Falkirk who despite their impressive first season back in the top flight have still been in need of a classic goalscorer.
Stewart’s hat-trick on Saturday were his first Premiership goals, made all the sweeter as he scored and celebrated in front of his girlfriend’s family up from London. The occasion carried special meaning too, with the goals coming against Hibs — a detail I’m sure which allowed for extra celebration for his dad, a Hearts supporter.
‘Yeah the whole of my missus family was up to see the game, so I hope they come often they’ve got to be a good luck charm.
‘My Dad’s also a Jambo, so he’ll be over the moon with that. He’ll be down in London celebrating that one.’
Despite having a Jambo dad, some other family members sway towards the Leith end of town.
‘A couple of the side of the family are Hibs fans as well, some uncles and stuff like that. So I’m sure I won’t be getting messages off them.’
Playing week in week out at Premiership stadiums against international talent is quite the change from university football in the East of Scotland League. Stewart doesn’t miss the strong tackles and quirky lower league grounds. When asked about what they were like he stated,
‘Horrible. That’s the only word I can put. There was boys stamping on my Achillies but obviously sometimes there’s no linesman to pick them up on it. So it’s night and day to be perfectly honest.’
John McGlynn in his post-match comments urged Stewart to sign a new contract and labelled him probably the lowest paid player in the Premiership. Stewart jokingly stated that he felt this statement might apply to the Championship as well. Money and a new contract are not at the forefront of Stewart’s mind currently.
‘I just enjoy playing the football, I’ll let my agent and other people sort all of that stuff and I just keep my head on the football.
‘I mean I wasn’t getting paid at East of Scotland and I was still playing every week wasn’t I? I just love playing football to be honest.
‘Obviously everyone would like to be paid more but it’ll come when it comes. I’m not forcing anything.’
There is learning to be had both on and off the pitch for Stewart. He’s still got his final year of study at Heriot-Watt to complete. There may have been a slight academic ‘blip’ but attending university lectures and playing in the Premiership isn’t an easy juggling act.
‘I’ve still got another year of uni, so I failed one of my modules last year. But, I resit that at Christmas time and I think I did all right in my resit. So it just lets me for the rest of the year just focus on my football and then I’ve got my fourth year to do next year.’
‘I’ll be going into uni. I’ll be attending the lectures that I can. Obviously, I’m not a great attender as you can see, why I failed the year last year but I do my best.
‘As long as I get some sort of degree at the end of it. It will be worth my time because obviously I paid for the first three years because I’m English.’
Despite his ‘English’ slip up he has featured in the Scotland U21 squad but when posed with any dreams of a World Cup fantasy he jokingly brushed them off.
‘I’ve scored three goals you know what I mean I don’t want to be getting ahead of myself. But, obviously if a fairytale is true then obviously I’d love to go to America but let’s be realistic here.
‘I’m aiming to try and get into that 21s squad in March, so I think obviously that would be incredible but you’ve got to be realistic here.’
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