The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
Saints end goal drought in hard-fought cup win
The winless run and the goal drought is o v e r fo r S t Johnstone. Kelty Hearts made the Perth side work hard for their Betfred Cup victory but from the moment Jason Kerr broke the deadlock in first half injury-time the Group C result was never really in serious doubt.
More than 400 minutes of football had been played before the captain’s header found the net – 423 to be precise – and Chris Kane made it 2-0 near the hour mark.
Michael Tidser pulled one back with a long-range shot but the ball never came close to the Saints goal again and they were able to see out the match with little drama.
Callum Davidson made six changes to his team which lost late to Celtic on
Sunday and it took the new-look side a while to find any fluency.
That was as much down to the energy and comm i tmen t the i r opponents brought to the contest in the early stages as any Saints shortcomings.
Whatever the reason, there was precious little goalmouth action.
Scott Tanser squandered a good se t -p iece opportunity by drilling a free-kick from 25 yards out straight into the wall but that was about it.
By midway through the first half, though, Saints had a grip on the game and were pinning Kelty back.
Corners were coming regularly and from almost every one of them a player in yellow and blue was getting his head to it.
Kerr and Shaun Rooney had no excuse for missing the target wide and high respectively but the closest Saints came to converting one was from Callum
Hendry. Kane had earned the corner when his near post shot was charged down and when Craig C o nw ay delivered the dead-ball, Hendry didn’t anticipate the flight of the ball after it was flicked on and it ended up hitting his head rather than him attacking it from six yards out.
One of those corners eventually produced an opener for Saints – but they had to wait until stoppage time for it.
A sweet Liam Craig shot was tipped over the bar and this time from Conway’s cross Kerr matched the power of his previous effort with direction and Darren Jamieson had no chance of keeping it out.
The half-time break didn’t alter the flow of the play. If anything, Saints were even more dominant after the restart.
The Conway -Kerr comb inat ion near ly produced a second goal from open play but this time the skipper headed just wide.
Davidson would have been hoping his forwards would get on the scoresheet to top up their confidence for the return to league action but Hendry showed a lack of conviction when he gave Jamieson an easy save.
The Kelty goalie had to work harder to keep out a low Rooney shot and then seconds later, a header.
Hendry might not have scored himself but he had an assist for Kane just after the hour when he directed a Tanser cross back across goal for his partner up front to head low into Jamieson’s left corner.
On 71 minutes Craig Bryson made his Saints debut, replacing Craig.
He hadn’t even touched the ball when he found himself in a one-goal game.
Tidser was about 25 yards out when he tried his luck with a left foot shot.
Elliot Parish would claim that the low strike swerved viciously after it came into his sight line but he still would have expected to save it.
Kerr should have reestablished Saints’ clear blue water but yet another header crashed off the bar.
It didn’ t prove to be costly, however, with the visitors maintaining control as the clock ticked down.
Kelty Hearts: Jamieson, James Stevenson, Reid, H o o p e r , B o y l e , Higginbotham, Thomas Reilly, Tidser, Philp, Russell (Flynn 62), Easton (McNab 82). Subs not used: Scobbie, Donaldson, McKe n z i e , Bembo.
St Johnstone: Parish, Rooney, Kerr, Gordon, Booth, Conway (Davidson 81), Craig ( Bryson 70), Wo t h e r s p o o n , Ta n s e r, Hendry (May 90), Kane. Subs not used: C lark, McCa r t , D enham , Ferguson.