Weary Hearts held firm at the end of a gruelling week to close out an unconvincing 2-1 home win over St Johnstone and climb to second in the Scottish Premiership. The Jambos - buoyed by their midweek Conference League play-off triumph away to Rapid Vienna - were good value for their two-goal lead after James Wilson's early strike was followed by a second that went down as an own goal from Saints debutant Enes Alic. But the hosts faded after the break and they were left clinging on in the closing stages after Ruari Paton pulled one back for the visitors early in the second half.
Hearts boss Wouter Vrancken made four changes to the side that started in Austria on Wednesday with Christian Borchgrevink, Tomas Magnusson, Laurent Mendy and Sabah Kerjota coming in. American forward JJ Williams was named among the substitutes. Saints, playing their first match in three weeks, handed a debut to Bosnian left-back Alic.
The Jambos signalled their intent in the seventh minute when Mendy's header was pushed over by Toby Steward after Magnusson headed Jordi Altena's corner back across goal. The breakthrough came two minutes later when Josh McPake seized on a loose pass from Saints defender Zach Mitchell and slipped a perfectly weighted ball into the path of Wilson, who burst into the box and drilled beyond the exposed Steward. Kerjota then cut in from the right but his low shot was easily blocked by Steward before the Saints 'keeper did well to push away Mendy's deflected strike from 20 yards out.
Saints threatened when Jamie Gullan fired wide from a Liam Smith cross after Borchgrevink was caught in possession. At the other end, Altena saw a free-kick pushed behind by Steward and from the resulting corner Mendy headed home, but it was ruled out for a foul on the Saints goalkeeper. Mendy was heavily involved again as Hearts doubled their lead in the 39th minute when a combination of he and Saints defender Alic bundled in Altena's free-kick from the left as they challenged inside the six-yard at the back post.
McPake then drove in from the left and saw his effort pushed behind by Steward at the end of a largely dominant half for the hosts. Saints began the second half with renewed purpose and they got themselves back in the game in the 48th minute when Paton outmuscled Altena to latch on to Sam Stanton's ball over the top and the forward drove past the exposed Beau Reus from just inside the box. The visitors' tails were up and they almost equalised when Hearts defender Stuart Findlay diverted Alic's cross just wide.
Hearts seemed to regain an element of control midway through the half and substitute Landry Kabore was denied by a stunning save from Steward before Blair Spittal curled a brilliant effort against the underside of the crossbar. Saints piled on the pressure in the closing stages, but Vrancken's side did just enough to make it back-to-back league wins. "It was a decent first half, where we should have scored more goals.
Extract — continue reading at the source.
