1st September 2018. Hearts v St Mirren. 4 -1

At last another game at Tynecastle although there have been a few changes during the transfer window which ended yesterday. Kyle Lafferty got his move to Rangers at a reported fee of £650,000, Don Cowie returned to his first club Ross County and Ross Callachan has joined St Johnstone after his contract was cancelled by mutual consent. There have also be a number of loan moves, Malauray Martin, Aidan Keena (both to Dunfermline), Dario Zannatta (Alloa), Ryan Edwards (St Mirren although under terms of loan deal he cannot play against Hearts today), Euan Henderson (Montrose) and Rory Currie (East Fife). Players coming in are Craig Wighton (from Dundee for a fee of around £250,000), Jimmy Dunne (Burnley on loan and the return of Demetri Mitchell (season long loan from Manchester United). Left home at around 14.05 and walked down to Tynecastle arriving about 14.20 as the players were on on the park warming up. In the side Dunne has come in to replace the injured Christophe Berra in defence and Mitchell has replaced Calumn Morrison on the left side of midfield. Wighton is on the bench along with the recently injured Arnaud Djoum and Harry Cochrane.

Hearts started well and took the lead after four minutes.  Uche Ikpeazu had his shirt tugged by Jack Baird and referee Kevin Clancy awarded a penalty. Steven Naismith stepped up confidently and slammed the ball past Craig Samson into the left hand corner of the net. Despite Hearts having most of the pressure and Peter Haring looking excellent in midfield St Mirren had a few chances and equalised after Cammy Smith broke down the right hand side of the Hearts defence and drove the ball low across goal. The unfortunate Dunne deflected the ball into his own net to bring the score to 1-1. 

Hearts went back ahead after thirty minutes when Ikpeazu flicked a ball onto Steven McLean who fed Naismith. He ran between two defenders and nodded the ball into the penalty box for Olly Lee to finish with a good volley from eight yards out. Mitchell almost scored a third when his overhead kick beat St Mirren keeper Samson but rolled along the top of the crossbar before being cleared by the defence.The third goal followed shortly afterwards when a Lee corner was headed on by Ikpeazu for John Souttar to head on to Naismith about six yards out. His header was good and Hearts were 3-1 ahead. The fourth goal arrived shortly before halftime when Hering found Naismith racing into the penalty box. He shot across keeper Samson and his shot hit the far post and rolled into the net. This was the first league hat-trick for a Hearts player since 2015 and well deserved after an all action first half from Naismith.

The second half proved to be the Ikpeazu show despite no more goals being scored. He is so strong and powerful and was a constant threat to the St Mirren. Defenders seemed to fall off him as he charged through the defence but he just could not get a shot on target. He may not be as good a goalscorer as Lafferty but his strength and power will create a lot of chances for his colleagues. Souttar cleared a late effort from St Mirren's Matthew Willock of the line but Hearts were in control throughout the second half. Djoum came on as a substitute for his first appearance in the side since February, following injury, although he was booked for a rash challenge shortly after coming on. Morrison looked good as a late substitute being keen to take on defenders although he maybe needs to improve his final ball. Wighton also got a late runout and came close with a good header to scoring his first Hearts goal.

Walked home in a good mood which got even better when I heard Hibs had lost at Livingston

Teams

Hearts: Zlamal, M. Smith, Dunne, Souttar, Haring, Lee, Mitchell, Naismith, Garuccio, MacLean, Ikpeazu. 

Subs:Morrison, Djoum, Wighton 

St Mirren: Samson, Coulson, McGinn, Magennis, Brock-Madsen, Smith, Baird, Jones, Hodson, Willock, Kpekawa. 

Subs:Flynn, Mullen