Hearts 1 St Mirren 1

Hearts came from behind to grab a point against St Mirren in their hard-fought Bank of Scotland Premier League clash at Tynecastle.

A Stephen O'Donnell strike after 14 minutes gave the tenacious visitors the interval lead.

However, the home side fought back and a terrific Laryea Kingston free-kick from 25 yards levelled the scores.

It was a performance from the Gorgie side which owed more to tenacity than talent and indeed, if the Paisley men had shown more purpose in adding to their opener they may well have taken all three points.

As ever these days, pre-match at Tynecastle was not without its talking points.

Hearts' majority shareholder Vladimir Romanov had called the media "monkeys" during the week and his PR team handed out bananas and nuts to the press in the media room before kick-off.

The tannoy also boomed out a song from 1960s band The Monkees, to the amusement of Hearts fans surrounding the Tynecastle press box.

However, on a more serious note, Romanov's hand appeared to be behind team selection again.

The Lithuanian, thought to be behind the freezing out of Craig Gordon, was making his first appearance of the year in the directors' box.

The decision to bring the Scotland goalkeeper back into the starting XI appeared to be an effort to placate his increasingly disgruntled supporters.

Midfielder Julien Brellier, not a favourite of Romanov, was dropped to the bench.

Not even Romanov could deny that the first half belonged to the tenacious visitors.

Andrius Velicka ignited the game in the ninth minute with a dipping 30-yard volley which Buddies goalkeeper Chris Smith did well to tip over for a corner which the Paisley side defended rather more comfortably.

But in the 14th minute the well-drilled visitors took the lead through midfielder O'Donnell, playing only his second game for Saints after moving from Clyde.

Midfielder Garry Brady knocked the ball into the former Bully Wee player 10 yards from goal and his confident first touch allowed him to turn and volley the ball past the helpless Gordon.

Five minutes later Velicka came close again when he headed an Andrew Driver cross from the left just over the bar from 14 yards out.

In the 35th minute Velicka again was presented with a half chance when Driver put him through but the Hearts striker, under pressure from Saints defender Ian Maxwell, scooped the ball over the bar from around six yards out.

Calum Elliot replaced Velicka at the interval but it was clear that the Buddies, still snapping and snarling, were in no mood to concede their advantage.

Hearts could not find any rhythm, the new strike-force of Elliot and Michal Pospisil feeding on scraps as the five-man Saints midfield strangled the game.

A second goal was there for the taking for St Mirren, demonstrated by O'Donnell's snap-shot just before the hour mark which Gordon was glad to see arriving straight at his chest.

But in the 71st minute the home side got their equaliser after Mikoliunas was fouled by Ian Maxwell at the edge of the box.

Kingston stepped up to curl a wonderful free-kick into the far corner and Tynecastle came to life again.

With 10 minutes to go and the Gorgie side pushing, Neil McCann had a good chance from Elliot's deep cross but lacked conviction with his header.

In the 88th minute Kingston crossed a dangerous free-kick into the six-yard box but the Ghanaian found no takers but it would have ben an injustice if the visitors had left without a point.

Teams:

Hearts Gordon, Tall, Zaliukas, Berra, Fyssas (Brellier 62),Mikoliunas (Klimek 76), Kingston, McCann, Driver, Pospisil,Velicka (Elliot 46).

Subs Not Used: Banks, Karipidis, Jonsson, Pilibaitis.

Booked: Pospisil, Brellier.

Goals: Kingston 71.

St Mirren Smith, van Zanten, Broadfoot, Potter,Malone (Corcoran 83), Brittain, Maxwell, Reid, Brady, Kean,O'Donnell.

Subs Not Used: Hinchcliffe, Millen, Sutton, McKenna, Gemmill,

McGinn.

Booked: Maxwell, Malone.

Goals: O'Donnell 14.

Att: 17,195

Ref: D McDonald (Scotland).

Taken from sportinglife.com