SPFL,
Sunday 29 December 2013 – New St. Mirren Park
It’s become something of a
habit while compiling match reports on Hearts games for the Edinburgh Reporter
this season to convey the feelings of doom and gloom usually associated with
what seems like recurring defeat. So it makes a pleasant change to report on
Hearts not succumbing to a reversal in Paisley on Sunday, albeit they had to
contend with one point rather than the very much needed three following a
hard-fought 1-1 draw in Paisley.
After Boxing Day’s hapless
performance against Kilmarnock, Hearts boss Gary Locke brought back Scott
Robinson while there was an unexpected but very much welcome return for the
experienced Ryan Stevenson who had been injured for the last three weeks. Locke
made a few positional changes too, most notably with Jamie Hamill playing in
midfield beside Callum Paterson.
If the changes in the Hearts
line up were designed to produce a change in fortune such hopes were in tatters
after just three minutes when St. Mirren took the lead. Former Hearts hero
Danny Grainger crossed for Thompson to stab the ball home from just three yards
out and it looked like another bad day at the office for the Maroons was on the
cards.
It was Thompson who almost
set up the Paisley Saints second goal when he fed Naismith whose effort was
superbly saved by Hearts keeper Jamie MacDonald. Hearts came close themselves
after 22 minutes when, from a free-kick, Jamie Hamill set up young Jamie Walker
but the winger’s effort went just wide. At the interval Hearts remained a goal
down but there was no doubt their first half performance was an improvement on
Thursday’s debacle at Tynecastle.
Suitably encouraged, Hearts
began the second half and equalised in the xx minute. The home side looked to
clear their lines from a Hearts attack but the ball fell to Jamie Hamill 25
yards from goal. The former Kilmarnock defender took it first time with his
right foot and volleyed the ball into the net past former Hearts keeper Marian
Kello for the equaliser. It was Hearts first goal in four games and brought
rapturous applause from the visiting support.
The ever-dangerous Thompson
then came close to putting the Buddies back in front before Scott Robinson
tried to emulate Hamill but his effort from 30 yards looked destined for
Paisley’s High Street. Jamie Walker then embarked on a mazy run but his effort
on goal was wide of the target. After Ryan Stevenson came close with an
ambitious overhead kick, Callum Paterson thought he had sealed a rare Hearts
victory with a close range effort only to see Kello produce the kind of
stupendous save that marked his all too brief career at Tynecastle.
In the end, Hearts had to
settle for one point rather than three and, on the balance of play over 90
minutes, this was probably a fair result. Hearts are now on minus two points at
the foot of the table, 13 behind Ross County who lost at Aberdeen.
Afterwards, Hearts boss Gary
Locke praised his beleaguered players. "I thought, second-half
especially, it was an outstanding performance," Locke told BBC Radio
Scotland.
"We asked for a better
performance than the other day and I think the players responded in the right
manner."
It may be fanciful to
suggest Hearts might have cut the deficit to seven points by this time next
week – particularly with a trip to Easter Road for the Edinburgh Derby on
Thursday – but it’s a lifebelt of hope to cling on to.
St Mirren: Kello, Naismith, McAusland, Newton,
Kelly, Goodwin, McGregor, McGinn, Thompson, McGowan, Grainger.
Hearts: MacDonald; McGowan, McKay,
Wilson, McHattie; Robinson, Hamill, Paterson, Tapping; Walker, Stevenson.
Referee: Kevin Clancy
Att: 4,568
Top man: Jamie Hamill – what a strike for Hearts equaliser!
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