St Johnstone 1 Heart of Midlothian 0
Ladbrokes Premiership, Wednesday 17th May 2017 – McDiarmid Park
On this day 19 years ago the Hearts were having a party while other Edinburgh dwellers (mostly from Leith) were in their beds. The triumphant Gorgie Boys paraded the Scottish Cup through the streets of Edinburgh following their 2-1 victory over Rangers less than 24 hours earlier and the Maroon Army didn’t want the season to end. Fast forward nearly two decades and it’s fair to say Hearts supporters can’t wait for season 2016/17 to draw to its painful conclusion.
Hearts penultimate game of a long and frustrating season ended with an inevitable defeat at the hands of St Johnstone in Perth on Wednesday evening.
Tynecastle Head Coach Ian Cathro made just one change from the side that at least displayed some fight in the defeat by Rangers on Saturday and it was an enforced one. By virtue of his red card at Ibrox Prince Buaben missed out and his place was taken by Alex Tziolis.
Hearts began the game in similar fashion to the way they ended the game in Govan at the weekend although, rather predictably, there was no real threat on the Perth goal. Indeed, it was the hosts who had the game’s first real chance when Kane fired over the crossbar.
In the 26th minute the Perth Saints went ahead. Former Jambo Swanson – who will be a Hibernian player next season – sent a through ball to Kane who pushed the ball past Hearts keeper Viktor Noring.
Six minutes before the interval, Bjorn Johnsen fired in an effort from 25 yards which Saints keeper Mannus saved superbly to keep the home side’s lead intact. In fact, they may well have doubled that lead on the stroke of half-time when the ever-dangerous Kane hit the crossbar.
Half-time St Johnstone 1 Hearts 0
Johnsen was replaced by Rory Currie at the beginning of the second half but it was the Saints who nearly scored again when that man Kane saw his shot on goal saved by Noring.
Hearts Arnaud Djoum then forced Mannus into a save when he pushed the Cameroon international’s effort over the bar.
The Jambos replaced Malaury Martin with Jamie Walker and the attacking midfielder had a chance to become an immediate hero but his volley went wide.
Hearts Liam Smith was next to try his luck but, again, Mannus saved his shot on goal.
It looked like game over with four minutes left when St Johnstone’s Craig fired home after Noring failed to hold a long-range effort but the assistant referee flagged for offside.
However, it was indeed game over minutes later and Hearts recent woeful record at McDiarmid Park – they haven’t won there since a Scottish Cup win in 2012 – continues.
St Johnstone: Mannus, Scobbie, Millar (Craig, 80′), Wotherspoon, Swanson (Coulson, 71′), Shaughnessy, Foster, Easton, Kane, Thomson (Alston, 67′), Cummins.
Hearts: Noring, Nowak, Tziolis, Hughes, Smith, Nicholson (Choulay, 77′), Djoum, Cowie, Martin (Walker, 61′), Johnsen (Currie, 46′), Goncalves.
Referee: Don Robertson
Att: 3,141
Top man: Sam Nicholson
Author of The Team for Me - 50 Years of Following Hearts. Runs Mind Generating Success, a successful therapy practice in Edinburgh. Contact me if you want rid of any unwanted habits. Twitter @Mike1874
