ST JOHNSTONE...1 HEARTS...0
Woodwork can’t save awful Jambos as Saints cruise it
IF it wasn’t for the goalposts then Hearts would have competed with Celtic on Sunday apparently.
But if it wasn’t for the crossbar last night Ian Cathro’s men would have taken a bigger doing in this, the Jambos’ sixth defeat in seven games.
It’s understood some within the Tynecastle camp were unhappy about how newspapers reported their manager’s bizarre observation as he attempted to explain their 5-0 weekend thumping by Celtic.
But he’ll have a job on his hands trying to justify this one as his side dismally failed to lay a glove on a St Johnstone side who thoroughly deserved this win that puts them firmly in fourth place.
A sending off for sub Sam Nicholson – after an alleged spitting incident later disputed by Cathro – added to the Hearts boss’s woes.
Now five points clear of the Jambos thanks to Joe Shaughnessy’s 73rd-minute header, Saints might suddenly be casting their eyes up at a stuttering Rangers side.
But Saints will need to be more ruthless as they saw a string of chances go begging before finally sealing the win they merited.
There was no sign of battling brothers in arms Richard Foster and Danny Swanson as the pair were ordered to steer clear of McDiarmid Park while the investigation into their on-field fight continues.
In came Clive Smith and David Wotherspoon. Veteran striker Steven MacLean was also restored having been rested against Hamilton on Saturday for his own protection to avoid the effects of playing on a plastic pitch.
Hearts were unchanged in personnel but shaped up with midfielder Alexandros Tziolis dropping so deep he was practically a centre-half who frequently drifted forward.
The result was a fluid Jambos side set up to ask quick questions of the home team but mindful enough of Sunday’s 5-0 thumping by Celtic to remember their primary duties at the back.
Yet both teams struggled to create any clear-cut opportunities until the 24th minute when Liam Craig found Blair Alston just outside the box.
A quick one-two with Smith sent the wideman scampering into the Hearts box to rake a tight-angled shot just over Jack Hamilton’s bar.
Five minutes later Paul Paton came even closer for the Perth men with a fizzing drive from the edge of the box, well saved by Hamilton dropping to palm it to safety.
Saints were starting to turn the screw and seconds after Jambo Bjorn Johnsen’s 30th-minute booking for a foul on Wotherspoon they launched another raid.
Graham Cummins showed good awareness as he speculatively hooked a ball going nowhere over his head back into the danger area where MacLean lurked to touch it into the path of Brian Easton.
The full-back has a powerful left peg and he used it to unleash a vicious first-time drive that shuddered Hamilton’s bar.
St Johnstone needed to make their dominance count and there was more frustration when MacLean clipped in Alston dashing for the line but his cutback canonned off Tziolis and wide.
A Cummins header from Craig’s free-kick was saved by Hamilton before another booking – this time for Hearts man Tasos Avlonitis crashing into the back of Wotherspoon – capped a poor first half for the visitors when they were hardly at the races.
The home side picked up where they’d left off within 60 seconds of the restart with another deft MacLean touch into the path of Craig storming forward in support.
But the striker watched with head in hands as Craig screwed his effort wide. Paton copped a 53rd-minute booking for a dangerously high boot on Jamie Walker but otherwise everything was going Saints’ way.
Swapping Avlonitis to put a natural midfielder in Prince Buaben in his central defensive role didn’t seem to be the switch the Hearts fans were looking for on the hour.
The introduction of Nicholson for the disappointing Johnsen and Liam Smith for limping Lennard Sowah made more sense.
But it was no surprise when St Johnstone finally grabbed the goal they deserved on 73 minutes.
Craig’s corner was whipped in with pace and the quickest thinker in the box was Shaughnessy who peeled off his marker to power
home a free header. As if things couldn’t get any worse for Cathro and Co, Hearts were reduced to 10 men for the last six minutes after Nicholson appeared to have spat towards the linesman.
Yet they came agonisingly close to nicking a draw in added time when Esmael Goncalves cut on to his right foot to scrape a curling shot inches over.
ST JOHNSTONE – Mannus 6, Smith 7, Shaughnessy 6, Scobbie 6, Easton 8, Alston 7, Paton 6, Craig 7, Wotherspoon 7 (Millar 85, 1), MacLean 8, Cummins 7. Not used: Clark, Coulson, Thomson, Hunter, Thompson, Jardine.
HEARTS – Hamilton 8, Struna 5, Avlonitis 5 (Buaben 60, 2), Nowak 6, Sowah 5 (Smith 69, 2), Cowie 7, Tziolis 6, Kitchen 6, Walker 5, Goncalves 5, Johnsen 4 (Nicholson 67, 1). Not used: Noring, El Ouriachi, Currie, Martin.
Referee: N Walsh.