St Mirren 2 Hearts 0: The missing link

Richard Winton
Assistant Sports Editor

STEVEN Thompson has been unfairly maligned for much of his career by those in his homeland.

From several seasons of gangly awkwardness at Dundee United, to a stint at Rangers more often recalled for his limitations instead of five Champions League group-stage appearances, the striker has struggled to convince Scottish sceptics of his worth, even if he has enjoyed the respect of English observers after his time with the likes of Cardiff City and Burnley.

Much of that, perhaps, is rooted in his modest goal return. But yesterday the 33-year-old delivered a performance so accomplished that his failure to add to his two goals for the term hardly mattered. The former Scotland striker offered an intelligent display in a fine St Mirren victory, dropping off the front line and embroidering play with elan. One first-half incident, especially, in which he received the ball with his back to goal, spun two defenders and roved across the field before feeding David van Zanten with a cute pass was delightful, even if Paul McGowan's weak header was a disappointing culmination to the move.

The Paisley punters, accustomed to their side being punished for profligacy, howled in dismay, but they need not have worried. Thompson's dander was up. It was his lay-off that gave Jim Goodwin the opportunity to scud a splendid 35-yard strike beyond Jamie MacDonald just before the interval, putting St Mirren into the lead, but his signature was scrawled all over the second goal, scored after a coruscating counter just two minutes after the break.

Hearts manager John McGlynn will reflect on the lack of communication between Andrew Driver and Marius Zaliukas at the edge of the St Mirren area that allowed the hosts to scamper clear after a corner, then Darren Barr's flimsy resistance as Thompson burst through, but the striker's awareness to locate Lewis Guy at the back post was exceptional. "I'll probably watch it back and think I should have scored myself," Thompson said. "But it was an instinctive thing to square it. I was really pleased with my link-up play. Sometimes as a striker, if you're not scoring then you get pushed into the shadows a wee bit but I thought my standard, and that of the team, was high today – but we need to do that against every team here."

For all McGlynn's protestations afterwards, the outcome – which moved St Mirren up to third – was entirely just. With Goodwin providing a robust base, Danny Lennon was able to deploy his favoured attacking midfield trio behind two strikers and while weight of numbers enabled Hearts to wrest a larger share of the ball in the congested central areas, St Mirren offered a greater threat whenever they assumed possession.

Even before the hosts established an advantage, Guy had been thwarted by a splendid MacDonald save as well as the assistant's flag, but the lead enabled them to sit deep and break with alacrity. The Hearts goalkeeper again denied Guy after McGowan's ball located him at the back post during one of a handful of breaks amid a second half dominated by the visitors.

That ascendancy, though, did not manifest itself in genuine openings because Hearts lacked the kind of attacking presence that Thompson and Guy offered St Mirren. After an underwhelming performance by John Sutton in the defeat to Dundee last time out, McGlynn opted to address his striking shortfall by deploying Callum Paterson centrally but, having caught the eye both at full-back and in a more advanced right-sided role this term, the 17-year-old was an enthusiastic though slightly aimless front-runner – even if his manager claimed he had caused all manner of difficulties.

"He has all the assets to play up there – pace, two feet, strength – and if he took the chances he had he would have been a hero tonight," McGlynn said.

Indeed, even after the introduction of Sutton for the final 25 minutes, very little stuck for Hearts in the final third, their main threat coming from a series of vicious Danny Grainger corners. Not that a spiky McGlynn would agree. "I'm not disappointed with the performance at all," he said. "We had lots of effort, commitment and corners and should have been two up at half-time but goals change games."

As Thompson knows, they also dictate how you are perceived.

The missing link

Taken from the Herald