Hearts 1 St Johnstone 1

Two magnificent goals capped an entertaining draw at Tynecastle.

Hearts striker Gary McSwegan netted a brilliant early goal from outside the box.

But the Saints hit back and man of the match Nathan Lowndes curled in a wonderful strike from 25 yards to give the Perth side a share of the points.

It was probably a fair result with both sides having chances to grab the victory.

But Hearts suffered a major blow when in-form Scotland striker McSwegan was carried off in the second half with a knee injury.

Hearts gave youngster Gary Wales his first start due to an injury of Stephane Adam.

However, it was the visitors who almost grabbed a dream start in the fourth minute of the match.

Hearts defender Kevin James missed the ball and let in Lowndes, but the English striker fluffed his shot and the ball trickled wide.

It was a mistake St Johnstone were to be punished for two minutes later when the home side took the lead.

Nick Dasovic lost possession to Wales and the ball fell to McSwegan who looked up before hitting a magnificent effort from just outside the box into the top corner.

St Johnstone had a chance to hit back when they won a free-kick just outside the box but it was a poor effort from Gary Bowen and the ball was blocked.

Hearts scorer McSwegan was continuing to trouble the St Johnstone defence and he shot wide from 20 yards in the 18th minute.

St Johnstone were struggling to match Hearts at this stage and the Edinburgh men almost grabbed a second in the 25th minute when Wales cushioned a header into the path of Colin Cameron and the Hearts captain's scissor-kick beat keeper Alan Main but landed just wide of the target.

Saints were inches away from grabbing a 31st-minute equaliser when Kieran McAnespie's corner was met by Dasovic, whose diving header was just too high.

And they were almost handed an equaliser when Kevin James and keeper Gilles Rousset got into a terrible mix up which almost let in Saints striker George O'Boyle before the keeper recovered.

Paul Kane tried his best to bring St Johnstone back into the game but his low 39th-minute drive was blocked.

And his next effort two minutes later from 30 yards was just too high.

Hearts ended the half on a high and Wales and Scott Severin both came close to extending the lead.

Saints grabbed a 57th-minute equaliser when Cameron was tackled by Kane in his own half and Lowndes picked the ball up, cut inside and curled a wonderful left-footed effort into the net.

The dangerous Lowndes came close to getting another when a low drilled shot was held by Rousset.

Hearts' McSwegan was carried off with a knee injury in the 65th minute to be replaced by Juanjo.

Hearts rejuvenated their efforts to grab a winner and Saints keeper Main saved the day in injury-time when he pushed away a Gary Naysmith header at the back post.

Teams:

Hearts: Rousset, Pressley, Naysmith, James, Ritchie, Cameron, Jackson, Flogel, Severin, McSwegan (Juanjo 65),Wales (Fulton 80).

Subs Not Used: McKenzie, Locke, Murray.

Booked: James.

Goals: McSwegan 7.

St Johnstone: Main, McQuillan, Griffin, McCluskey, McAnespie, Dasovic, Kane (O'Neil 74), Bollan, O'Halloran, O'Boyle (Thomas 78), Lowndes (Simao 85).

Subs Not Used: Ferguson, McBride.

Booked: Kane, Dasovic, McQuillan, Lowndes.

Goals: Lowndes 57.

Att: 12,872

Ref: Alan Freeland (Scotland).


Taken from sportinglife.com