8th April 2023 Hearts 0 St. Mirren 2

Tynecastle with an important game for Hearts. Having lost five of their last six matches Hearts are now only a point ahead of Aberdeen in the race for third place in the SPL and the guarantee of group stage European competition next season. I left home around 14.00 to walk to the ground and arrived around 14.20. After scanning my season ticket for entry I entered the stadium and had a wander around the concourse before heading to my seat in section Q of the main stand. The teams were warming up as I took my seat and I watched this before having a chat with those sitting near me. There was a general feeling of apprehension as everyone knew Hearts had to recover their confidence and start picking up points again. 

Hearts were defeated 2-1 at Kilmarnock last week despite scoring first in seven minutes and Kilmarnock going down to ten men with half an hour remaining in the match. There were a number of changes in the Hearts side with Ross Stewart in goals following an injury to Zander Clark and Harry Stone deputising on the bench. Cammy Devlin returned to the starting line up after suffering a head injury on international duty, replacing Orestis Kiomourtzoglou. Andy Halliday and James Hill both came into the starting side with Toby Sibbick named amongst the substitutes.St Mirren under manager Stephen Kettlewell have improved significantly since his appointment last year. Up front they have Tony Watt, a former Hearts loanee, on loan from Dundee Utd and Curtis Main who played under Kettlewell at Motherwell. They are not an attractive side but press well and force rhe opposition into making mistakes. They are also the only SPL side to defeat league leaders Celtic this season. 

The first major incident in the match came when Robert Snodgrass fouled Saints’ Mark O’Hara as he attempted to break into midfield. Saints were awarded a free-kick and the referee showed Snodgrass a yellow card. I did not think the foul merited a card especially being so early in the game and a first foul by Snodgrass but the referees decision became more important later in the match. Hearts were playing with Michael Smith and Stephen Kingsley as wing backs and Andy Halliday, Sammy Devlin and Jorge Grant in midfield with Snodgrass in the number ten role supporting Lawrence Shankland and Alan Forrest up front. The system was not working as Snodgrass did not have the  pace to get forward in support, Grant was lost on the left of the midfield trio and the wing-backs were not getting crosses into the box. The ball seemed to spend most of the half being passed square as Hearts had the bulk of possession, When they get close to the St. Mirren penalty area they were halted by some crunching tackles from the Saints midfield and defence. The only clear chance of the first half came five minutes from halftime when Halliday saw his header bounce back from the cross-bar following a cross from Kingsley after a good run down the left. Hearts left the field at half-time to a series of jeers from the cold after a poor display thus far. 

Hearts had an early chance n the second half. Halliday broke into the penalty area and let the ball run to Smith who ran into the box from the right. The fullback hit a low shot but Trevor Carson got down to save his effort. Just a pity Smith could not score to celebrate his two hundredth appearance in a Hearts shirt. St Mirren then had their first chance of the match when Watt fired in a low shot from the edge of the penalty box which forced Stewart to dive and push the ball away.  The Saint's went ahead after fifty-two minutes when Curtis Main chased a long ball from keeper Carson, out-muscled Kye Rowles and fired a low shot past Stewart from the edge of the penalty area. A second goal arrived five minutes later. A long throw-in from Joe Shaughnessy was not cleared by the Hearts defence. The ball landed in front of O'Hara who hit a shot off the ground and into the net with the aid of a deflection of his colleague Alex Gogic. Hearts need changes and brought on Alex Cochrane and Stephen Humphrys for Smith and Halliday. Cochrane had a chance minutes after coming on but fired his shot over the bar from around fifteen yards after a break down the left. A difficult task became worse for Hearts after a second yellow and subsequent red card for Snodgrass after sixty-two minutes. Main broke clear down the left and Snodgrass slid in to bring him down with a clear foul challenge. Hearts huffed and puffed after this but never really troubled St. Mirren. The game was summed up for me when Hearts top scorer Shankland was challenging St. Mirren players in his own half of the field. The player left the field to a series of boo's and Hearts manager Robbie Neilson faced a series of unsavoury chants when he walked onto the pitch to applaud the few fans remaining in the ground. 

I walked home disappointed with both the result and performance. Hearts face Hibs in the local Derby at Easter Road next Saturday and need a change of both players and attitude to retain both a top six spot and European football next season.

The Hearts board took action with Robbie Neilson being sacked the following day followed by Lee NcCulloch also leaving the coaching staff. Steven Naismith has been promoted from his role as B team manager to first team manager for the rest of the season. He will be assisted by current assistant manager Gordon Forrest and Frankie McAvoy who currently head up the Hearts Academy.

  

Teams.

Hearts : Stewart, Smith, Halliday, Hill, Rowles, Halliday, Forrest, Devlin, Shankland, Snodgrass. Grant.

Subs: Cochrane, McKay, Humphrys. Haring.

St. Mirren: Carson, Strain, Small, Fraser, Shaughnessy, Dunne, Bacchus, Gogic, Watt, Main, O’Hara.

Subs: Tanser, Gallagher, Grieve, Flynn, Killie.