St Johnstone 1 Hearts 0: Super-fit Saints shine

St Johnstone's Dave Mackay (right) clears under pressure from Ryan Stevenson.SNS

St Johnstone boss Tommy Wright insists he had no fears following his players’ latest heroics in Europe that tiredness would be a factor against Hearts.

The Saints squad only arrived back in Scotland after beating FC Minsk in their Europa League qualifier early on Friday morning.

However, despite the exertions of the game as well as all the travelling to and from Belarus, super St Johnstone were at their Sunday best and completely dominated against the Jambos in their opening SPFL fixture, with the final 1-0 scoreline, distinctly flattering the youthful Edinburgh side.

Stevie May, who scored in the home Europa League tie against Rosenborg, was the Saints goal hero once again against administration-hit Hearts.

When May’s manager was asked if he had concerns that fatigue would have been a problem following the Minsk game he said: “No, We have recovered well. We have known since they came back in pre-season how fit they are. So I had no concerns at all. If Hearts had won I would not have been using that as an excuse.

“I think it is all too easy to put doubt into players’ minds and give them an opportunity to have an excuse but we won’t be doing that.

“The lads will recover tomorrow and then the focus will be firmly on Minsk.”

He added: “I am delighted to get our first win in the league. I thought the lads right from the first whistle went about it really well and played at a good tempo.

“There were some passages of play in the first half where we were excellent. Second half, we probably should have killed the game off.”“Obviously, we were a wee bit concerned at 1-0 but I think we fully deserved it and could have scored one or two more,” said Wright.

May admitted he had a brief moment of concern when the referee consulted with his assistant about possible offside in the build-up to his goal.

The 20-year-old striker said: “I was celebrating but one of the boys said he has given offside.

“But I think the ref has seen sense and thankfully the goal stood as it should have. I have looked forward to this season for a long time.

“I have gone out on loan over the last two seasons but I always wanted to come back here and score goals at this level.”

Taken from The Courier