St Mirren 1-1 Hearts

Mar 17 2008

SCOTLAND coach George Burley was an interested spectator in the stands for this clash.

Burley watched his former side scrape a draw against St Mirren courtesy of the Lithuanian Scottish fans love to hate – Saulius Mikoliunas – who struck an equaliser four minutes from time to cancel out Jim Hamilton’s opener.

There was no doubting Burley’s presence in Paisley was to run the rule over Hearts skipper Christophe Berra. But it was another defender who took centre stage at the ripe old age of 42.

Andy Millen’s arrival on the Love Street field came about by accident. Just half an hour had passed when Mikoliunas launched into a spectacular overhead kick only for his boot to accidentally catch defender John Potter full in the face.

The stricken Saint collapsed to the turf in a bloodied heap and lay unconscious for several minutes before finally being stretchered off to be replaced by Millen.

The death of Motherwell skipper Phil O’Donnell’s in December is still fresh in the hearts and minds of football fans up and down the country.

Thankfully Potter had regained consciousness by the time he reached the dressing room but was taken to hospital as a precautionary measure.

That was the cue for Millen to come on and marshal the Paisley troops brilliantly.

One can only wonder if Burley wished Millen was 20 years younger. Millen threw himself in front of everything and shackled Calum Elliot and Andrew Driver well enough all day as the Saints looked the more likely side to claim all three points.

Whatever it is Millen possesses he has an insatiable appetite for playing top flight football that would put some of the younger modern-day stars to shame. Even St Mirren boss Gus MacPherson admitted Millen was “outstanding” and “showed a fantastic” attitude and desire for his age.’

MacPherson revealed Millen had been desperate to start and was the most frustrated player at the club in recent weeks having found himself out of the first team.

St Mirren may have been denied a rare SPL victory but they should have wrapped up the points long before Miko’s leveller.

Most of their chances fell to midfielder Andy Dorman, the signing from New England Revolution who has been nothing short of a revelation for the Buddies and it was his goal against St Johnstone that kept his side in the Scottish Cup last Saturday.

Dorman passed up three glorious chances to win the game for Saints but in truth he was not a culprit as it was bad luck that denied him a goal.

Hedrove an effort just over the top, had ashot clip the post and another finish inches past in the dying seconds with Hearts keeper Steve Banks well beaten on every occasion.

Dorman knows he blew a chance to net a win bonus for his team-mates but singled out Millen’s majestic performance after he replaced the injured Potter.

He said: “What can you say about Andy Millen? It’s ridiculous and in training Andy is one of the best players everyday.

“I did not know how Andy would be in a game situation but he has shown he has not lost it.

“It’s the first time we have shared the same pitch and he was just fantastic.

“Andy has the same enthusiasm he has always had for football and I think he is more enthusiastic than most of his team-mates. He came on, threw his weight around and made sure every one of the players kept going.

“That’s not bad for a man of his age and all credit to him for still operating at this level.

“I just wish I had taken one of those chances.Itwould havebeen nice if one of them had gone in.

“Jim Hamilton took his goal really well and put us in a position to win but we could not get that second decisive goal we needed.

“We are disappointed not to have won but not with our performance.”

Dorman admitted the St Mirren players had not given the Gretna crisis much thought despite relegation now being off the menu.

He said: “We haven’t thought too much about the Gretna thing and even though relegation is not an issue we were always confident we would have stayed up anyway.

“We are still in the Scottish Cup and are going to channel our energies and focus on that competition.”

Hamilton eventually fired Saints ahead with his first goal for the club just before the hour with a sweet left-foot strike into the top corner after being teed up by strike partner Craig Dargo.

Hearts snatched a leveller after 86 minutes and it was boo-boys’ target Miko who had the last laugh.

Fellow Lithuanian Deividas Cesnauskis fired over a corner that broke to Mikoliunas, who curled a beautiful finish through a ruck of players.

Suddenly everybody in Paisley of a St Mirren persuasion could empathise with Potter.

For Saints it was a real kick in the teeth.

MAN OF THE MATCH: Andy Dorman (St Mirren)
MAGIC MOMENT: Mikoliunas strike that proved to be the sting in the tail for Saints.

Taken from the Daily Record