St. Johnstone 2 Heart of Midlothian 2
Ladbrokes Premiership, Wednesday 5th December 2018 – McDiarmid Park
Hearts halted their recent run of defeats with a 2-2 against St. Johnstone in Perth tonight but, yet again, it’s the performance of the referee which is the main talking point. Goals from Arnaud Djoum and Oliver Bozanic had the Maroons ahead until referee Andrew Dallas awarded the home team a penalty twenty minutes from the end when he deemed that Peter Haring had fouled Tony Watt when, in truth, there seemed only the faintest of touches from the Austrian. Suffice to say Hearts manager Craig Levein fronted Dallas at the end of the game but, of course, the damage had been done.
Arnaud Djoum gave Hearts the perfect start, scoring with a header following a deep cross from Michael Smith after just six minutes. Alston volleyed home an equaliser for the home side after 20 minutes. Hearts went back in front, somewhat against the run of play, four minutes from half-time when Oliver Bozanic headed home Olly Lee’s free-kick to the delight of the travelling Maroon Army.
However, their joy turned to anger in the 70th minute when Peter Haring was adjudged to have fouled Liam Gordon inside the Hearts penalty box. There seemed to be minimal contact. Kennedy made no mistake with the penalty kick and parity was restored.
Given the controversy surrounding St. Johnstone’s equaliser Hearts will see this as two points snatched away from them, but they may well have been happy with a point if offered this before the game given that the Perth Saints have been in great form of late.
St Johnstone: Clark, Tanser (Gordon, 46′), Alston (Kane, 66′), Shaughnessy, Davidson, Wotherspoon, Kerr, Foster, Craig, Watt (McMillan, 83′), Kennedy.
Hearts: Zlamal, Smith, Haring, Berra, Bozanic, Lee (Morrison, 80′), Clare (MacLean, 89′), Djoum, Mitchell (Godinho, 77′), Wighton, Dikamona.
Referee: Andrew Dallas
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
