11th March 2020 St Mirren v Hearts 1-0

Off to Paisley tonight for what is a must win game for Hearts. While they picked up a point from their draw with Motherwell on Saturday Hamilton, second bottom of the table, scored a late winner at Kilmarnock and the gap at the foot now stands at four points. A win tonight will close the gap to a point and drag St. Mirren back into the relegation fight. After a bite to eat I wandered down to Haymarket Station to catch a train to Paisley. I caught the first train to Glasgow Queen Street at 17.13 which was a bad mistake as it was not a direct service but went via places like Camelon, Shotts and Roboyston. On arrival at Queen Street I walked the short distance to Central Station and caught the 18.40  to Paisley St. James. The station is in the same street as the ground and I was there by 19.00. Remembering my last visit as I bought a programme in the club shop as there are no programme sellers at the away stand. There was a long queue for entry with only four turnstiles open for the 1,300 Hearts fans who had bought tickets. Once I the ground I had a bridie and a coffee before heading to my seat in the stand. I was in Row E of the stand directly behind the goal and I resigned myself to having to stand to be able to see the action. Surely there is a case for cheaper prices for lower level seats with a restricted view directly behind the goals.

Hearts fielded the same side that started Saturdays match against Motherwell. The substitutes bench reflect manager Daniel Stendels attacking approach with goalkeeper Joel Pereira joined by midfielders Marcel Langer and Andy Irving alongside attackers in Liam Boyce, Euan Henderson, Ryotaro Meshino and Jamie Walker. St Mirren have been in a good run of form recently despite losing 5-0 to Celtic at the weekend. Their lineup contained no surprises with a strong defence backed by an excellent goalkeeper in Vaclav Hladky.

Hearts started the game poorly and St. Mirren’s physical approach was causing Hearts problems. Winger Alex Jakubiak seemed to have the measure of Aaron Hickey in the early stages and looked dangerous on the Saints right win. Hickey however  recovered from his shaky start and after about ten minutes started to give his normal polished performance both in defence and pushing forward to support the attack. Ulkay Durmus on the St. Mirren came close when he whipped in a cross from the left hand side. ‘Bobby’ Zlamal in the Hearts goal had to leap to touch the ball over the bar before a forward could get a  touch. Hearts had their first chance in around twenty-five minutes. Hickey and Steven Naismith played a one-two and the fullback tried a shot from the edge of the penalty area. His attempt had little power behind it and Hladky in the St. Mirren goal gathered easily. Sean Clare then headed wide from a cross by Michael Smith but Hearts looked toothless in attack and lacking invention in midfield. Their woes were summed up after a stupid and needless booking for captain Naismith. He disputed the award of a free-kick to St. Mirren and was told by the referee to be quiet and move away to allow the kick to be taken. He was slow to move back the required ten yards and the ball was deflected off him when the kick was taken resulting in a yellow card for ungentlemanly conduct. Zlamal made another good save jut before halftime as he dived to his right to push a fierce shot from Cammy McPherson past the post for a fruitless corner. 


Hearts made a change at halftime bringing on Boyce for Clare. Boyce, signed as a penalty box striker, seemed to take up a position on the left of the Hearts attack rather then his favoured central position. St. Mirren went aead in forty-eight minutes. St. Mirren’s Ross Wallace intercepted a loose pass from Loic Damoutr and sent the ball over the top of the Hearts defence for centre forward Jonathan Obika. Despite the attentions of both Clevid Dikamona and Craig Halkett he was able to run into the penalty area and poke the ball past Zlamal from about eight yards. Hearts were now needing to score but continued to lack imagination and high balls from the back and midfield were lapped up by the St. Mirren defence, despite the loss of centre half Conor McCarthy to injury in the first half. Andy Irving came in ti add some guile to midfield and looked as if he could make a difference with his willingness to carry the ball and his range off passing but received little support. Everyone expected Danmour, who was having a difficult time as the holding midfielder, to be substituted but manager Stendel decided to replace Oliver Boxzanic. Damour was put out of misery when he was replaced by Meshino with about fifteen minutes remaining. With  ten minutes to go Hearts created a half chance when a shot from Washington after a Smith cross was blocked and deflected towards Lewis Moore. Before the winger could get the ball under control it bounced of him and past the post. St. Mirren had made made three substitutions due to injuries and continually wasting time at every opportunity and the fourth official signalled six minutes added time. Hearts continued to press but, other than a vain claim by Dikamona for a penalty after he appeared to be hauled to the ground attempting to reach a cross, there were no chances created. St. Mirren could have grabbed a second in this period after a break by Jakubiak but he was crowded out by the Hearts defence. The referee's whistle singled the end off the game and three points for St. Mirren. 

I had met Craig at halftime and he offered me a lift home after the game. We met up disappointed outside the ground and headed back towards his car with seven year olds Harper and Jayden. Both boys were saying the Hearts had been rubbish and that Damour had been the worst player on the field. If two seven year olds could see this what were the Hearts management team doing. There performance could at best be described as insipid and there seemed to be no structure to the team. Given recent results this defeat is a huge blow to Hearts and my optimism about avoiding relegation is now fading. We made good time along the M8 and I was home just after 23.00 about half an hour earlier than I would have been back on the train, assuming had caught the trains I had planned. All in all a really awful game with Hearts getting what they deserved, nothing !

Teams
St Mirren: Hladky, Hodson, Waters, McCarthy, Obika, Durmus, Foley, Famewo, MacPherson, Jakubiak, Wallace. 
Subs: McGrath, Andreu, McAllister

Hearts: Zlamal, Smith, Bozanic, Clare, Washington, Naismith, Damour, Halkett, Moore, Dikamona, Hickey. 
Subs: Boyce, Irving, Meshino