Saints hold Hearts to opening day draw
From Hearts News at Tynecastle Stadium

Hearts were held to an opening day 1-1 draw by St Johnstone at Tynecastle this afternoon.

Calum Elliot headed home Lee Wallace's cross for the opener only to see Sam Parkin cancel it out but 60 seconds later.

The big news going into the opening game of the season was the inclusion of new signings Kevin Kyle and Stephen Elliott on the Jambos bench. Jim Jefferies was without the services of Jonsson, Stevenson and Bouzid who were all serving suspensions.

Hearts came roaring out of the blocks and were looking to get an early advantage. Black and Templeton linked up well to carve the first opening which Templeton drilled wide. Templeton did have the ball in the net after two minutes with a superb low shot, the linesman however flagged for offside.

St Johnstone looked lively also and Chris Millar's shot across goal could have given them the opening goal if not for strong goalkeeping from Marian Kello. The Saints were forced into a change early in the game after a head injury to Danny Grainger that delayed the match by five minutes. Grainger looked to have collided with the post after a challenge with Calum Elliot.

Lee Wallace was showing the benefits of a good pre-season with some rampaging runs down the left hand side. On 22 minutes Lee's looping ball into the box found Craig Thomson at the back post, Craig connected well with the ball but drilled it high over the post.

Hearts did take the lead on 44 Minutes and again it was down to a tantalising cross from Wallace. The ball found Elliott away from his marker and able to loop the ball over Enckleman. The goal sent a shockwave through Tynecastle with fans and players alike happy to get the first goal of the campaign.

The euphoria was short lived though and within 60 seconds St Johnstone had equalised through Sam Parkin. Substitute Taylor got the better of Jason Thomson on the wing and played a cross in for Parkin to nod home. The half time whistle blew seconds later with the match poised nicely for the second half.

St Johnstone started the second half the brighter of the sides and whilst they had their chances to capitalise Marian Kello and the Hearts defence were up to the task. The Jambos just couldn't carve any clear cut chances of their own out.

After 64 minutes Jim Jefferies decided to hand both new club signings Kyle and Elliott their debuts in a bid to win the match. Kyle was instantly involved with a header from a Craig Thomson corner, but unfortunately didn't find the target.

The visitors were reduced to ten men mid way through the half after a reckless challenge from Steven Anderson on Suso earned him a straight red.

The Jambos looked to push on and take advantage of the numerical advantage, but it was proving a tough task. St Johnstone were quite happy to sit back and soak up the pressure. Novikovas played a neat ball into the area and Kyle was on hand with a blistering header which Duberry cleared off the line, denying Kevin his first goal for the club.

Kyle was forced off just near the end with a fairly nasty eye injury but returned to the field with a rather large head bandage to try and get the winner. It didn't quite happen that way and the game finished 1-1, but for Hearts it looks like there is a lot to be hopeful of this season and they are officially off and running.

Hearts: Kello, J Thomson, Barr, Zaliukas, Wallace; C Thomson, Black, Palazuelos, Templeton (S Elliott 64); C Elliot (Kyle 64), Suso (Novikovas 78). Subs not used: Balogh, Kucharski, Mulrooney. McGowan.

St Johnstone: Enckleman, Mackay (Rutkiewicz 59), Duberry, Anderson, Grainger (Taylor 21); Miller, Morris, Davidon, Craig; Parkin, Haber (Samuel 71). Subs not used: Smith, Dobie, Caddis, May.

Referee: Stevie O'Reilly

Top man: Lee Wallace

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