Hearts need win at Paisley against St Mirren

Hearts visit The SMiSA Stadium on Saturday (15.00) in a rearranged William Hill Premiership fixture and Steven Naismith’s men are desperate to snap a depressing sequence.

The Jambos have lost seven games in a row in all competitions but improved their performance last Saturday when they went down 2-0 at Celtic Park to a side which excelled in midweek in the UEFA Champions League, thrashing Slovakian side Slovan Bratislava 5-1 in front of a packed house.

In all, Hearts have lost three times away from home so far this term, last weekend at Celtic plus reverses at Motherwell (2-1) and Dundee (3-1). They have also lost 1-0 at home to Dundee United.

The St Mirren match was originally due to take place on Wednesday, December 4 but, with both teams now knocked out of the Premier Sports Cup, it was agreed to pull the fixture forward. 

So, what is the form guide? Well, The Buddies were held to a 2-2 draw against Kilmarnock in Paisley last weekend. Goals from Toyosi Olusanya and Mark O’Hara saw them edge 2-1 ahead at the interval, but an own goal from Jonah Ayunga saw the visitors take a point.

Stephen Robinson’s men sit in seventh place in the William Hill Premiership with five points from their opening five matches from a win and two draws. Hearts have taken only one point from the same number of games and prop up the rest.

Their opening day 0-0 draw with Rangers at Tynecastle was encouraging but has, so far, proved their only point of the season.

The last time the teams met was at The SMiSA Stadium in May in St Mirren’s final home match of the season and goals from James Scott and James Bolton twice saw Saints ahead but Kyosuke Tagawa and Lawrence Shankland scored to share the points in a 2-2 draw.

PICTURE: Lawrence Shankland (right) training at Riccarton. Picture by Nigel Duncan