Hearts 3 St Mirren 0: No mayday but icebergs are visible

FOR another 24 hours at least, St Mirren remain resolutely in the path of that iceberg.

The titanic struggle at the bottom of the SPL table – enlivened by the mind games of Dundee manager John Brown, including comparing the Paisley side to the doomed ocean liner – lives on after Danny Lennon's side continued their alarming recent malaise with this comprehensive 3-0 defeat against a callow yet convincing Hearts side.

Considering the Tynecastle outfit themselves are still not safe from relegation in the event that they enter administration before the end of the season and accrue an 18-point penalty, it was something of a surprise to find that Gary Locke was in command of such a happy ship.

The Paisley side – who must now hope that Dundee fail to take the three points against Aberdeen at Dens Park this afternoon – got what they deserved yesterday, but they still left Gorgie with a grievance about the influence of referee Brian Colvin.

While another poor start had been partly to blame for Jamie Walker's fine opening goal, Danny Lennon and Steven Thompson – the man depicted in the Leonardo Di Caprio role in Brown's footballing fantasy – felt the official had wrongly awarded a free-kick against Marc McAusland in the lead-up to the second, Kevin McHattie's thumping in his first goal for the club from the resultant set piece.

They also railed against the decision to award a penalty and a dismissal against Kenny MacLean for tripping McHattie as he raced through on goal, the award being gleefully dispatched by Jamie Hamill following 11 months out with a cruciate injury, and the non-award of a penalty when Thompson himself appeared to be manhandled in the box in the second period.

"Another key moment goes against us, for the third week in a row, with the penalty decision," said Lennon.

"Certainly from where I was it looked a poor decision and from the reaction of the players, it looked like Kenny MacLean took the ball.

"But what is a concern to me at the moment is the manner we are starting games, that is the third game in a row we haven't come out of the blocks. But there is no doubt in my mind that we will stay up."

Thompson took Brown's mind games with good grace, but denied they had caused his side to suffer from nerves. "Obviously I saw the different ones in the paper and they were reasonably funny," Thompson said.

"Knowing Bomber the way I do, I know it is tongue in cheek, if you want to take it out of context then you can but I'm not."

As for Hearts, their fate will be determined in a courtroom in Lithuania, as insolvency practitioners look into the plight of Ukio Bankas, the bankrupt bank which holds £15 million of the club's debt. But for all their financial predicament, the club have wisely invested in the future and there were plenty of signs here that the policy is paying off.

Walker and McHattie were the star turns, but a total of 11 players under the age of 21 were involved in a match in front of a 16,000 plus crowd, many of whom took advantage of £5 tickets.

Walker's goal, in particular, was a thing of beauty as he came in off the left to fire in a right-footed drive which bounced in off the underside of Craig Samson's bar, but the goalkeeper was culpable just before half-time when McHattie's free-kick from all of 30 yards flew underneath the wall and beneath his body.

Although there was resurgence from St Mirren after the break, there was no way back after MacLean was adjudged to have denied McHattie a clear goalscoring opportunity on a quick break following a corner, with Hamill beating his old Kilmarnock and Scotland Under-21 buddy from the resultant award.

"We knew there was going to be a big crowd and we had to be up for it and give the fans something to shout about," said Tynecastle manager Locke. "There's a lot of positive things at the club.

"That [the possibility of administration and a points penalty] is not something I really concern myself with.

"I concentrate on the football side of things, but I am delighted for the backroom staff and all the people behind the scenes.

"We are thankful for the support we are getting from the fans and delighted to give them a good result."

The relegation issue, as Celine Dion might say, will go on.

Taken from the Herald