Two minutes into injury time St Johnston's Alan Kernaghan clearly handled the ball inside the box to concede a spot-kick.

And Cameron became the hero of the day when he coolly sent Alan Maine the wrong way from the penalty spot.

Saints thought they had salvaged a well-earned draw when George O'Boyle scored an equaliser in 77 minutes.

Hearts had looked in control before that and were leading thanks to a Thomas Flogel goal three minutes after the interval.

However, the newly promoted men from Perth looked impressive all game and even had the three best goalscoring chances before Hearts' opening goal.

After 16 minutes, Leigh Jenkinson floated a free-kick into the area and Keith O'Halloran's header flew inches wide.

Then Jenkinson pounced on a Gary Naysmith slip midway through the first half and sent O'Boyle clean through on goal but Gilles Rousset rushed from his line to block the striker's progress.

And a minute into the second half O'Boyle was dashed again when his powerful header came crashing back off the underside of the bar.

However it was Hearts who took the lead two minutes later. Neil McCann sent in a fine cross to the box and Flogel rose unchallenged to bullet his header home.

And he almost made it 2-0 moments later when he met Cameron's long ball first time, only to see Maine get down to make the save.

At this stage the Edinburgh side were well on top and defender Paul Ritchie passed up a golden opportunity to extend his team's lead.

Maine dropped a McCann cross at the Heart's man's feet, but with an open goal at his mercy he skied the ball.

O'Boyle thought he had scored an equaliser in 67 minutes when he sent in a fine shot on the turn which looked netbound until Rousset somehow stretched out a hand to tip the ball round the post.

However the Irishman got his goal ten minutes later. Paul Kane's cross evaded the entire Hearts defence and O'Boyle had a simple task of sidefooting the ball into the corner of the net.

Hearts sub Jose Quitongo thought he had grabbed a late winner, but he had wandered into an offside position seconds before he tapped the ball home from close range.

Teams

Hearts: Rousset, Locke, Naysmith (Hamilton 88), Weir, Salvatori, Ritchie, McCann, Fulton, Robertson (Quitongo 69), Cameron, Flogel (Adam 69).

Booked: Locke, Fulton.

Goals: Flogel 48, Cameron 90 pen.

St Johnstone: Main, McQuillan, Preston, Dasovic, Kernaghan, Weir, Scott, O'Halloran (Grant 68), Kane, O'Boyle, Jenkinson (Tosh 85).

Subs Not Used: McCluskey.

Booked: Weir, Dasovic, Scott, O'Boyle, O'Halloran, Kane.

Goals: O'Boyle 77.

Att: 13,611

Ref: S Dougal (Glasgow).


Taken from sportinglife.com