The Courier & Advertiser (Angus and Dundee)
Skipper left to rue sloppy mistakes
Saints gave themselves a mountain to climb, says Joe Shaughnessy
HEARTS 2 ST JOHNSTONE 1
St Johnstone’s Joe Shaughnessy said setpiece sloppiness left his side with a mountain to climb against Hearts at Tynecastle on Saturday.
Saints conceded from a corner in the first half with Peter Haring heading home and then failed to defend properly again in the second 45 to allow Jimmy Dunne to rise unchallenged to score a second.
Tommy Wright’s side mounted a late rally and pulled one back through Ross Callachan but skipper Shaughnessy was left to rue the fact that ultimately the goal counted for nothing.
When asked if Saints had left themselves with too much to do, the 26-year-old centre-half agreed and said: “Yes, we started poorly. We were a bit sluggish in the first half and they were on top.
“Second half, we put in a better performance and after we scored we had a couple of chances. But we had left it too late.
“Losing two goals from set-pieces is not good enough, really.
“I wouldn’t say it was a lack of height (in the team).
“The first goal they flicked it on from the front post and their man has looped it up in the top corner. It was almost the perfect header. The second one he has got the jump or whatever.
“That happens sometimes but we have to be doing better to defend that.
“Apart from that, they have had chances – we had them as well – but we just gave ourselves too much to do.”
Hearts are the Premiership pacesetters and with Saints having played them, Rangers and Celtic in the space of a week, Shaughnessy was well placed to judge the merits of Craig Levein’s men.
The Irishman said: “They were good but they always are at home.
“They are tough to play against. They play to their strengths, are a physical side and very fit.
“They have probably been good value for their win.
“They did well but last weekend we were well beaten by a good Rangers side.
“This week we have had the three hardest games we could possibly have had.
“They are top of the league for a reason and if they keep grinding out results then you never know.”
One of Shaughnessy’s friends was a foe for 90 minutes at Tynecastle with the defender pitting his wits against former team-mate Steven Maclean, who moved to Hearts in the summer.
Shaughnessy added: “I said hello and well done to him. It was a good battle and good to come up against him.
“We know what each other are like from training the last couple of years so it was pretty much what I expected. It is great to see him doing well.”
There was a good early ebb and flow to the game and it seemed there would be a goal sooner rather than later – and it was the Jam Tarts who scored it in the 23rd minute.
An Olly Lee corner from the Hearts left was flicked on by Arnaud Djoum with Haring reacting quickest to send a looping header into the top right-hand corner of Saints keeper Zander Clark’s net.
St Johnstone had a great chance of their own in the 53rd minute with neat interplay between Callachan and Drey Wright, with the latter dragging a shot just wide of the goal.
It was the home side’s turn to threaten next with Steven Naismith hitting a fierce drive that Clark could only parry with the ball falling for Maclean but the veteran striker could not keep his shot on target.
The Hearts fans did not have long to wait to celebrate the second goal in the 65th minute.
Lee swung a corner in from the right, with Dunne rising highest to bullet a header past Clark for his first goal for the club.
The St Johnstone boss immediately brought Tony Watt off the bench and the striker almost scored within seconds of coming on but his shot flew just inches wide of the target.
Saints did though grab a lifeline in the 77th minute when Watt diverted a Richard Foster cross into the path of Callachan and the former Hearts player made no mistake, sending a low drive into the corner of the net from 12 yards.
However, the home side held on to take all three points.
Manager Wright said if his players had started the way they ended the match then they might have got something out of it.
Wright said: “The finish to the game was how we should have been for the whole game.
“I’ve got no complaints about the result but we started the game too loose.
“But the energy we showed at the end – if we’d showed that throughout the 90 minutes we’d have got a better result.”