MEHMET'S FURY AS HE BLOWS LAST-GASP CHANCE

Scorers: HEARTS: Mole Stewart (p) ST MIRREN: Mehmet

BILLY MEHMET came within inches of grabbing a last-minute equaliser for 10-man Saints which would have been rough justice on the Jambos.

But Saints sinner Mehmet moaned: I should have buried it.

Hearts pummelled the visitors from all angles but woeful finishing and inspired goalkeeping from Mark Howard kept Saints in the game.

And after grabbing a close range equaliser to cancel out Jamie Mole’s wonder strike for the Jambos, Mehmet rose to meet Franco Miranda’s cross and flashed his header agonisingly wide.

That would have made it 2-2 after the outstanding Michael Stewart had fired Hearts 2-1 ahead from the spot.

Mehmet said: “I just caught it too well. If I got more of a glancing contact I would have scored, but I got too much of the ball.

“I thought we deserved the equaliser but it was a tough shift up front on my own.”

New Hearts gaffer Csaba Laszlo was delighted with the victory. He said: “I am happy with the performance but unhappy with our failure to score more.

“We could have won 7-1, but our finishing was poor. But it is important to win and collect the points which we failed to do so often last season.

“It was an up and down day for the fans, but the players know what I want and that is to play good football. All we need to work on is scoring. We play football for the future and every win gives the club more stability.

“My new signing David Obua is a good player and he showed he is a player for the future who can play in a number of positions.

“Our keeper Marian Kello was nervous today and he lacked harmony with Berra and Zaliukas, but they were away on international duty this week and the understanding will grow.

“I am still deciding who is the best keeper and they will all get their chance.”

Laszlo will be happy with a lot of what he saw as Hearts made chances from the off. Lee Wallace linked well with Mole to bring a fine blocking save from Howard as earley as the third minute. And it was one-way traffic as the Saints keeper denied Mole after a fine through pass from Stewart.

Perhaps the pick of Howard’s saves was a magnificent tip over from Laryea Kingston’s vicious 25-yarder. It became more of an uphill struggle for Saints when close season signing Tonet Guera saw red after two cautions in the space of as many minutes.

He lunged in on Jason Thomson and was then late with a midfield challenge on Stewart and ref Calum Murray had no hesitation but to flash the red card.

They capitalised on their extra man in first half stoppage time as Stewart found Mole in space 25 yards out. The youngster looked up and hammered an unstoppable right foot shot past the outstretched arm of Howard into the top corner. It was a breathtaking strike and the Jambos continued to dominate after the interval and Andrew Driver forced a fine save from Howard and Kingston somehow dragged the rebound wide from only a few yards.

And Howard continued his heroics with a block from sub Deividas Cesnauskis.

Saints stunned the home side with an equaliser on 70 minutes in their first serious attack.

Gary Mason’s free-kick was nodded back across goal by sub Jim Hamilton where Hugh Murray knocked the ball into Mehmet’s path for a tap-in.

Hearts came back immediately and Driver’s volley was tipped away by Howard. But the keeper was helpless to prevent the Jambos going ahead in 75 minutes.

Driver’s trickery forced Miranda to concede a penalty and Stewart stepped up to coolly convert from the spot. And Scotland ace Stewart had a chance to add a second spot kick after 89 minutes when Jack Ross tripped Audrius Ksanavicius.

But this time Howard guessed right and saved low to his left. Saints gaffer Gus MacPherson said: “I think we made it difficult the way we started, giving Hearts a number of chances even before we went down to 10 men.

“Conceding the goal before half-time made it very hard but our substitutions almost worked. We brought Jim Hamilton on a bit earlier than planned, but we were making little impact until that point.

“As soon as we lost the player we were up against it and by the letter of the law they were both yellow cards. But if the referee booked everyone for that type of foul we’d end up with no players on the park and I felt a quiet word would have sufficed.

“There’s no doubt Mark Howard was the man of the match and was simply outstanding. He’s lost weight, worked hard in pre-season training and he’s getting his reward.

“The only thing that beat him with Hearts’ first goal was the movement of the ball in the air.”

HEARTS: Kello, Thomson, Berra, Zaliukas, Wallace (Cesnauskis 48), Kingston (Ksanavicius 85), Karipidis, Stewart, Obua, Driver, Mole (Nade 70). Subs not used: MacDonald, Palazuelos, Rapnik, Glen.

ST MIRREN: Howard, Ross, Haining, Potter, Miranda, Guerao, Dorman (McGinn 56), Mason, O’Donnell (Murray 52), Brady (Hamilton 65), Mehmet. Subs not used: Smith, Wyness, McAusland, Cuthbert