Hearts 1 - 1 St Mirren

The kindest thing that can be said about the action from Tynecastle on Saturday is at least it was topical. Hearts and St Mirren did little to extinguish the fiery debate about the wretched state of Scottish football by contributing equally to an insipid encounter.

The only pleasant surprise was that we were eventually treated to two goals and some late drama for those who had stayed for the duration and resisted the temptation to poke their eyes out with a stick.

The players were not entirely to blame for the lack of entertainment. David Somers did little to reverse the notion that the standard of officiating in this country is rapidly deteriorating. The referee booked eight players, including four in the space of a minute, in a match that could hardly be described as volatile, and regularly disagreed with his assistants when it came to awarding throw-ins and corners.

Add in a strong wind that saw the ball regularly scoot away from its intended target and it was little surprise that the staccato nature of proceedings made for difficult viewing.

For Hearts, this result must count as something of a setback.

Looking to improve their chances of claiming third place in the SPL, a home fixture against a team mired in the lower half of the table and who had played a cup tie less than 48 hours previously is surely one they would have expected to win.

Instead, the home side were surprisingly lacklustre, in stark contrast to their storming second-half display against Aberdeen the previous week.

Another victory looked likely when Eggert Jonsson thrashed a shot past Chris Smith after 77 minutes only for a disastrous cameo appearance from Saulius Mikoliunas put an abrupt end to that.

The Lithuanian, in his first outing for three months, scooped an inviting cross over the bar from a matter of yards, then needlessly conceded the free kick that led to St Mirren's late equaliser. He was curiously then wheeled in by the Hearts press office after the match to relive those moments over again, whispering one-word responses while looking as if he would have rather have been addressing a mass meeting of the Tartan Army.

Csaba Laszlo, his manager, was rather more garrulous, cursing his players for switching off so late in the game and muttering something about not making a sacrifice to the Greek gods as the reason behind the loss of two points at home.

St Mirren wrapped up a decent week's work, in which they also booked a place in the quarter-finals of the Homecoming Scottish Cup, by claiming their first away point from a top six-side this season. In their third year back in the SPL, they are beginning to look like one of those doughty, well-organised sides who make it very difficult for the opposition to break down without offering much in the way of flair at the other end.

Andy Dorman aside, there is little in the way of invention originating in their midfield areas, while in attack Billy Mehmet and Jim Hamilton beaver away busily without ever looking capable of conjuring anything out of the ordinary.

In Dorman they have a player of undoubted quality, a midfielder capable of making penetrating runs into rival territory and blessed with the uncanny knack of appearing at the right time at the right place to score goals. Even on one of his quieter afternoons, as was the case on Saturday, he still had the vision to anticipate Scott Cuthbert's header across goal to earn his side a point.

St Mirren have the option of extending the Englishman's contract by a further year at the end of the season but will begin talks soon with his agent with a view to persuading Dorman to commit to a longer deal. His value to St Mirren, both in the currency of goals and a future transfer fee when he, almost inevitably, moves to a bigger club, cannot be underplayed.

"There are not a lot of midfielders like him," Hamilton said. "He breaks forward and gets into the box and the timing of his runs is brilliant. He reminds me a bit of Colin Cameron. He's good enough to play in England but it depends on what option he goes with. We'd love him to stay here as long as possible."

Taken from the Herald