25th November 2023. Hearts 1 St Johnstone 0

 

Back to Tynecastle today for my first match for a few weeks. It should be an interesting game with Craig Levein returning to Gorgie as the new St Johnstone Manager. A further ex-Jambo, Andy Kirk has joined Saints as Levein assistant. I left home just after 14.00 and walked to Tynecastle Arrington around 14.20. After recording the match on the Futbology app I entered the ground and headed up to my seat in the main stand. Craig is going out with friends today and will not make Tynecastle. However Harper and his pal Jayden are going on their own. Both are now eleven years old, the same age as I first went to Tynecastle with parental support. I have not been well since the game and have copied the Hearts mmatvh report from their website rather than write my own

Head coach Steven Naismith made one change from the side that was victorious at Motherwell prior to the international break. Jorge Grant came into the starting XI, with Calem Nieuwenhof moving the bench. Craig Levein included two formers Hearts players, Ryan McGown and Liam Gordon , in his defeence, 

 

The Jambos were first to threaten after only three minutes when Alex Cochrane swung a set piece into the box for Kye Rowles to meet, but he couldn’t steer his header on target.A sublime move moments later forced a great save out of Dimitar Mitov. Cochrane showed tremendous skill to cut inside before moving it on to Grant, who flicked it into Lawrence Shankland. He teed up Cochrane for a first time shot but the Saints keeper pounced to his right to push the ball away.  Mitochondrial was called into action not long after, throwing himself to his left to push Liam Boyce’s header around the post. Immediately after, Rowles' glancing header flew a few yards past Mitov’s right-hand post. Boyce was in the thick of it and after ten minutes was slipped into the box by Stephen Kingsley. He elected to shoot early and could only fire into the side net.

The visitors soaked up the pressure well and nearly took the lead on 23 minutes. St Johnstone worked their way into the Hearts box with Luke Robinson meeting a cross, and although his initial header was blocked, he was first to react, stabbing the ball goalwards, only to be denied by a fantastic point-blank Zander Clark save.They threatened again five minutes later. Chris Kane latched onto a ball over the top before feeding Matthew Smith at the edge of the Hearts box, he strode forward before blasting an effort into the side net.

 

Clark had to be alert four minutes into the restart. Smith bound down Hearts left side and swung a cross towards that looked like it may creep in under the crossbar but the Scotland keeper tipped it over the bar. By this point the visitors were proving dangerous going forward, with Kucheriavyi taking aim from outside the box on 55 minutes, but his shot was beaten away by Clark.The deadlock was finally broken just after the hour mark and it was courtesy of the boys in maroon. Cochrane’s ball in from the left found Boyce who struck from inside the box, with the ball appearing to take deflect off Shankland and spin away from Mitov, into the back of the net.the stadium announcer credit the goal to Boyce and I am unsure how much Shankland knew about the deflection. However the goal was officially credited to Snanklsnd. 

Nieuwenhof was introduced on 67 minutes and immediately turned in a great ball from the left to find Boyce. He took a touch on 18-yards before blasting narrowly over the target. Fellow substitute Yutaro Oda followed that up a minute later by darting into the box and firing over. The game was bereft of chances from thereon in, despite both sides pushing for a game-changing goal. The impressive Jambos defence stood firm, without being under any real pressure, to ensure the three points stayed in Gorgie.

I walked home happy with another three points but a bit disappointed with the quality of the match. However better to win with a poor performance that get beat with a good performance.

Teams

Hearts: Clark, Kent, Kingsley, Baningime, Grant, Shankland, Boyce, Rowles, Forrest Cochrane, Lowry. 

Subs: Oda, Nieuwenhof, Devlin, Vargas.

 

St Johnstone: Mitov, Considine, McGowan, Gordon, May, Kane, Kucheriavyi, Robinson, Smith, Phillips, Costelloe. 

Subs: Gallagher, Jephcott, Jaiyesmi.