No pass marks for Jambos from Neilson
Hearts boss Robbie Neilson admitted his team would have hammered St Mirren if games were decided on the number of passes.
Instead, the Jambos paid the price for their failure to get shots on goal.
The Tynecastle men were particularly short of attacking ideas during the first half of the 1-1 draw in Paisley.
Neilson said: “If 10 passes were a goal, we would have probably won 10-0. But ultimately it’s about getting shots on goal. We were too deep.
“I don’t think we are ever happy with a point. We wanted to take three points.
“The first-half performance wasn’t the levels we want to get to. The second half was miles better. Sometimes you have to take the point and get up the road.”
While Neilson was quite open about the deficiencies of his own side on the day, he also had praise for the way St Mirren are operating this season.
“St Mirren make the game very difficult for you to play,” Neilson went on.
“At any opportunity the ball is going forward, with long throws, corners and setplays. It can make the game unpredictable.
“This is a difficult place to come. They beat Celtic, drew with Rangers, beat Aberdeen and Hibs. So to come here and pick up a point, at the end of the season it could be a decent point.”
Hearts have drawn four away Premiership games this season, the most of any team in the division.
Turning a couple of them into victories would have them closer to second-placed Rangers but that won’t happen if the pattern of this game persists.
The Jambos are at their best when they force the opposition back and use the creativity of players like Barrie Mckay.
He and Robert Snodgrass found it difficult to cope with the home team’s pressing game.
Neilson praised the players for upping their levels after his half-time pep talk.
He said: “In the second half we were a lot higher and managed to penetrate them.
“We had to get our wing-backs much higher.
“In the first half they were really deep. Barrie Mckay and Cammy Devlin were coming deep and there was nobody near the strikers.
“We need to be more aggressive.
“In the final moments of play you sometimes get days like that where it doesn’t quite come together. We pass instead of shoot.”