Saints capitalise on abject display from weak and disjointed Hearts

By STUART BATHGATE
Hearts 0 - 1 Saint Mirren.
IT WAS a game of one team. St Mirren may be limited in their abilities and ambitions, but they do play together, which is why they won.

Hearts, on the other hand, looked as disjointed and purposeless as they have for a long time. At least when they lost to Inverness Caledonian Thistle on Saturday they showed some touches of inventive football: yesterday they were simply dire, and from the time they went a goal down they became increasingly clueless.

There have been plenty of Hearts sides over the years who lacked talent or resources, but the criminal thing about displays such as this is that the present team can hardly plead poverty in either sense. True, they have lost some of their most gifted players over the past year or so, but they still have players of far greater calibre than their recent results would suggest. They also have the biggest wage bill of any team outside the Old Firm, but at the moment it is simply money down the drain.

The home supporters booed the team off at full-time, as the recent terrible run worsened to one win in ten matches. Fans in the main stand also vented their frustration at the executive box on full-time, shouting abuse at the club's directors.

Steve Banks, who was back in goal in place of the hapless Eduardas Kurskis, revealed that after the match some senior players had insisted on a squad discussion minus coaching staff in the dressing-room.

"A few things were said that maybe weren't said before," Banks said, the inference being that some home truths were told about the lack of stomach for a fight from which several players suffer.

But a lot more than the odd chat will have to take place at Tynecastle before a revolution is started from the bottom up. Vladimir Romanov, the club's majority shareholder, has consistently backed some players who have been accused of lacking the character required, and he appears in no hurry to take the sort of drastic action required to sort out this mess.

With ten points between themselves and Gretna, Hearts may need nothing more than one short string of decent results to ensure SPL safety, but that is hardly the point. This, remember, is the club who according to Romanov were going to win the Champions League within three years. The club who parted company with one manager when they were unbeaten at the top of the league, and who said farewell to another when their prospects of finishing second were in jeopardy.

With the passing of each week, though, their grandiose hopes contrast all the more glaringly with the grubby reality. Given their resources, Hearts should beat St Mirren with something to spare more often than not. Here, by contrast, it was the visiting side who appeared comfortable victors almost from the moment they scored.

The goal came about from the first move which put the Hearts defence under any real pressure. The problem for Hearts began when Ian Maxwell was allowed acres of space down the left, and crossed unhindered into the box. No-one cleared, and the ball went through to Stephen McGinn at the back post. With nobody near enough to close him down, McGinn took a steadying touch before driving a low shot into the far corner of the net. That was almost the only significant moment of the first half, and the second 45 minutes were just about as quiet.

St Mirren came close to doubling their lead just two minutes after the restart. A hopeful long ball forward caused problems for the defensive partnership of Christophe Berra and Ibrahim Tall, and Billy Mehmet's volley sailed inches wide of the post.

Hearts brought Michael Stewart and Saulius Mikoliunas off the bench a few minutes into the second period, but Saints were causing more havoc for Hearts just a minute later.

Tall was helped out by goalkeeper Banks after being out-muscled by Stewart Kean inside the box and the shot-stopper made another brilliant save, while grounded, to deny Mehmet on the follow-up.

It was the third Hearts substitute, Michal Pospisil, who came closest to making a real difference with his first contact – a header which Chris Smith tipped over the bar. Apart from an early
shot from Christian Nade which floated into his arms, that save after an hour was the first time Smith had to be called into action.

Half an hour later he was again well positioned to save from Andrew Driver, and for the rest of the time he was able to rely on a solid defensive effort.

"We fully merited the three points," said Gus Macpherson, the St Mirren manager. "We passed the ball well and defended really well. The back three of David van Zanten, John Potter and Ian Maxwell, any crosses that came in, over the piece, they dealt with them. That's probably the most we've created for some time. We could have made it more comfortable for ourselves, but other than the last five minutes I don't think we were hanging on."

Unless drastic action is taken, it will be Hearts who are hanging on for the rest of the season, hoping that Gretna do not find a sudden improvement in form.

Taken from the Scotsman