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| <-Page | <-Team | Wed 29 Dec 2010 St Mirren 0 Hearts 2 | Team-> | Page-> |
| <-Srce | <-Type | Hearts World ------ Report | Type-> | Srce-> |
| Jim Jefferies 2nd | <-auth | Hearts Media | auth-> | Crawford Allan |
| ----- | John Paul Potter | |||
| 3 | of 007 | David Templeton 63 ;Kevin Kyle pen 82 | L SPL | A |
Hearts surge past St Mirren to keep scintillating run goingFrom Hearts Media at St Mirren ParkHearts kept up their terrific form with a 2-0 away win at St Mirren Park tonight. The home side held Hearts for over an hour before a piece of individual brilliance from David Templeton opened the scoring. The influential winger then had a big hand in the away side's second as he won the penalty converted by Kevin Kyle. The win extends Hearts unbeaten run to eight games and sets up everything nicely for January 1st's Edinburgh derby. Jim Jefferies was forced into three changes from the team that drew with Inverness as Marian Kello, Stephen Elliott and Rudi Skacel all missed out through injury. The Hearts' boss went for like-for-like swaps in the form of Jamie MacDonald, Calum Elliot and Ryan Stevenson. Saints boss Danny Lennon made two changes to the team that defeated Inverness on Boxing Day. Sean Lynch and David Van Zanten came in for Craig Dargo and Scott Barron. The home side kept with their 3-5-2 style formation which switched to a 5-3-2 without the football. This denied Hearts space with which to work and it was St. Mirren who looked the more dangerous early on. In the space of three minutes first Paul McGowan, then Michael Higdon, flashed right-footed shots wide of MacDonald's right-hand post. Hearts' best player throughout the first half was centre midfielder Ian Black. The game required the players to work hard and do the "dirty work", which Black was more than happy to perform. He chased down every opposing player in his vicinity and seemed to be the only player in maroon capable of winning the 2nd ball. Thanks to his tenacious play he carved out the away side's only meaningful chance of the first half an hour. Winning the ball in the midfield he drove forward, linked with Kyle before dragging a shot from 25 yards wide of the post. At the other end MacDonald had to be quick off his line to deny Dargo before Calum Elliot ended the half on a high for Hearts when his deflected shot hit the post. It had been a dire first half with little space for players to perform and chances few and far between. Luckily neither manager appeared happy with this because both teams started the second half with a renewed sense of attacking vigour. First Black curled the ball over the bar after hitting a speculative effort with the outside of his right foot from the edge of the area. Then Lynch had a similar chance at the other end when he ballooned his first time attempt high over the goal. St Mirren will then feel they should have taken the lead on 59 minutes after Darren McGregor edged away from Kyle at the back post to knock a header back across goal. Craig Dargo was perfectly placed but couldn't react quickly enough to the pace of the ball and headed over awkwardly. Hearts threatened at the other end a minute later when John Potter diverted a Stevenson header away from goal. But the deadlock would be broken soon after. Up until the 63rd minute David Templeton was having a poor game by his standards. Then he showed what a special talent he is. Forgetting everything that had happened previously in the match, he picked up the ball 30 yards out and made for goal. He skipped past two initial challenges before running into the penalty area. Despite three St Mirren players converging on him, he wriggled past them and blasted the ball low past Paul Gallacher. Hearts should have had the game sewn up two minutes later when Ryan Stevenson was played through on the right hand side of the penalty area. Unluckily for Stevenson he had, not one, but two shots expertly blocked by Gallacher. On 80 minutes Templeton took it upon himself to ensure that the travelling Hearts' support didn't have to endure a nervy ending to the match. He was the only man in the St. Mirren half when the ball was cleared away following a corner. The winger flicked the ball past his marker with his first touch and raced through on goal. John Potter came across to cover but was duly beaten by Templeton cutting inside him and had no choice but to bring him down. Referee Crawford Allan immediately pointed to the penalty spot and sent off the St. Mirren captain. Kevin Kyle expertly dispatched the penalty in the left hand corner of the goal and raced to celebrate the wrapping of a deserved three points in front of the away fans. St Mirren: Gallacher; Van Zanten; McAusland (Mooy 78); Potter; McGregor; Travner; Thomson; Cregg (Barron 84); McGowan (Dargo 23); Lynch; Higdon. Subs not used: Samson, McLean, Lamont, McQuade, Barron. Sent Off: Potter Hearts: MacDonald; Jonsson; Zaliukas; Bouzid; Palazuelos; Mrowiec; Black; Stevenson; Templeton (Novikovas 84); Elliot (Obua 78); Kyle. Subs not used: Balogh, C Thomson, Barr, Glen, Wallace. Referee: Crawford Allan Top man: Ian Black  Hearts World |
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| <-Page | <-Team | Wed 29 Dec 2010 St Mirren 0 Hearts 2 | Team-> | Page-> |
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