NEIL ROBERTSON

Avisit to Tynecastle is never an easy proposition, doubly so when Hearts are sitting top of the league as the early season pace-setters.

So it would have been understandable if St Johnstone boss Tommy Wright had opted for a cautious approach to the game especially after the midweek exertions in the League Cup against Celtic.

However, the manager started with two wingers in the shape of Matty Kennedy and Drey Wright along with twin strikers in David McMillan and Chris Kane.

It was an admirable approach but Saints were second best to Hearts, particularly in the first half with Craig Levein’s side spurning a host of chances.

When they finally doubled their advantage in the second 45, I feared for Wright’s men but they pulled that goal back through Ross Callachan, with Hearts enduring a nervous final few minutes.

Certainly as the McDiarmid manager alluded to after, if St Johnstone had played the way they did after conceding the second goal throughout, they would have had a much better chance of taking something from the game.

In the build-up to the match, a lot of the focus was on Steven MacLean facing his former side and whether or not he would celebrate if he scored.

The striker passed up a great chance to do just that in the second half.

Ironically, it was a St Johnstone player in Callachan who did not celebrate scoring against the team he left at the end of the August transfer window.

That was a mere sideshow, though, and Saints’ focus is now firmly on another tough test against Celtic on Sunday.