Hearts battled to a 2-1 victory against St Johnstone on a cold afternoon at McDiarmid Park. The game saw two sides play entertaining, attacking football, which ebbed and flowed in the battle for possession and attacking momentum.
St Johnstone knew victory would have seen them rise to 6th in the table from 9th. Simo Valakari, the Saints new head coach, was in the home dugout for the first time.
They made two changes to their squad that lost midweek to St Mirren. Barry Douglas—the one-cap Scotland international who signed two weeks ago as a free agent—and Graham Carey came into the squad for Matthew Smith and Lewis Nielsen.
The visitors knew victory would leapfrog them into 11th above their Edinburgh rivals, Hibernian, who play on Sunday—their loss midweek to Kilmarnock ended Neil Critchley’s new manager bump.
They made three changes, with Yan Dhanda, Malachi Boateng and Daniel Oyegoke coming in for Adam Forrester, Cameron Devlin and Kenneth Vargas.
First Half
The first real moment of the game was when Boateng fired a pass straight through the Saints defence to Shankland. He hit it first time just wide of the post.
Hearts continued to be the more threatening side in the first half, with quality and zip to their forward play. Early on, St Johnstone continuously tried to play out from the back, but misplaced passes and a good Jambos press halted that.
Saints’ defender Kyle Cameron tried to ask his players to calm down after some early pressure, but Hearts kept coming. Dhanda and Forrest provided attacking impetus on the wings, and Beni Baningime and Boateng controlled proceedings in the middle of the park.
The game began to open up, and St Johnstone started getting a foothold. They were awarded a free kick in a dangerous area outside the box. There was a question mark on whether the new man, Douglas or captain Nicky Clark, would take it. But the captain stepped up, with Gordon making a relatively comfortable save.
Hearts racked up the corners throughout the first half, and that’s how they got their first goal. A Blair Spittal delivery was put over the line by Clark, who scored an own goal in the 24th minute.
The Saints responded with some attacks of their own. Following one corner was a goalmouth scramble, which Gordon clung onto and subsequently won a foul.
In another moment in the latter stages of the first half, Sidibeh put a tame effort wide after doing well to beat his man just outside the box.
Second Half
At halftime, Simo subbed his goalkeeper, Joshua Rae, for Ross Sinclair after his number one picked up a knock in the first half.
St Johnstone came flying out the blocks. Jason Holt led the charge with a curling effort that rattled off the crossbar after his attempted pass inside the box deflected back into his path.
Veteran Craig Gordon kept his team in the lead with some good saves early in the second half, with the pick of the bunch, a low dive to his right.
Critchley had seen enough and decided to make two early substitutions to try to change the course of the game. Devlin and Vargas came on for Dhanda and Boateng.
There was uproar from the Saints fans after they thought Kye Rowles—already on a yellow card for a foul in the first half—brought their player down. The referee disagreed and just awarded the free kick.
Following a corner, referee Chris Graham was called to the monitor after VAR Alan Muir said there was a possible penalty kick. After watching it, he pointed to the penalty spot after the officials believed Devlin wrestled Cameron to the ground inside the box. Devlin got a yellow card, and Clark took the game ball.
He stepped up and fired it straight into the bottom corner past Gordon, cancelling out his own goal from the first half.
Hearts responded positively to the setback, gaining momentum with the substitutions providing fresh energy.
The substitute Vargas got onto the scoresheet with a lovely finish into the bottom corner after some sublime footwork from Baningime.
St Johnstone tried to push for a late equaliser but struggled to create chances due to Hearts’ stern 4-4-2 shape. It was their story of the match; progressing the ball nicely from the defence to the midfield but falling short in attack.
Hearts continued to exploit the space behind the St Johnstone defence, with an over-the-top ball played into Vargas who ran in on goal. Rae made a terrific one-on-one save to give his side hope going into the game’s final phase.
The keeper came up to help St Johnstone from a corner in the dying moments, but ultimately, Hearts defended well enough to clinch all three points. The Hearts fans will return to Edinburgh to celebrate and look forward to their midweek European tie against German opponents, Heidenheim.
Teams
St Johnstone (4-1-3-2): Sinclair (GK) (Rae, 46th), Cameron, Sanders, Douglas, Wright, Sprangler, Carey, Holt, Clark (C) (Smith, 80th), Sidibeh (Kirk, 80th), Kimpioka
Subs: Rae, Essel, Kucheriavyi, Smith, McPake, Kirk, Keltjens, Bright, Franczak
Hearts (4-4-2): Gordon (GK), Kent, Oyegoke, Rowles, Penrice, Dhanda (Vargas, 57th), Baningime, Boateng (Devlin, 57th), Forrest, Spittal, Shankland (C) (Grant, 85th)
Subs: Clark, Kingsley, Halkett, Grant, McKay, Devlin, Wilson, Forrester, Vargas
Match Officials:
Chris Graham (referee), Paul McAvinue and Craig Macrae (assistants), Duncan Williams (fourth official), Alan Muir (VAR)