St Johnstone triumph over Hearts with 2-1 win

Nov 24 2009 by Johnathon Menzies, Perthshire Advertiser Tuesday

THREE strikers, three stories and three points plucked from the capital by a bold Saints team provided a dramatic script to match anything crafted by Edinburgh author Ian Rankin.

With the egg-chasers in action at Murrayfield, an early kick-off was required for a clash with last term’s third placed Jambos and their gloriously eccentric manager of the year.

Saints were still rubbing sleepdust from their eyes during a woefully predictable first-half display, trailing at the interval to a collector’s piece from Hearts tank-like lone forward Christian Nade.

But the pattern of play was transformed by the introduction of Kevin Moon, an inventive midfield playmaker who would have been enjoying a reputation on par with Murray Davidson long before now if it wasn’t for the hours whiled away on a treatment table.

The compact home-grown product provided the guile and accuracy required to press back a home side fearful of the hostile reaction from the stands after a traumatic first quarter of the season that has witnessed fretting manager Csaba Laszlo trying to tunnel his way out of Tynecastle.

He had a telephone conversation with his boss Mr Romanov after this result.

What is Lithuanian for “shoogly peg?” Their relationship was further strained when Saints stormed back to barge past them into eighth spot, courtesy of second-half strikes from Collin Samuel and Jonaton Johansson, with Hearts trimmed to 10 men when the winner was poked home four minutes from the end.

Man mountain Nade hadn’t scored for nine months. As one pressman wryly observed, babies are made and delivered in that timeframe. It was almost worth the wait. It was a pearler, with a gloriously unexpected and 30-yard strike dipping into the corner.

But given that the striker has the turning capacity of your average Miami liner, Saints skipper Kevin Rutkiewicz was left regretting his decision to drop-off.

Hearts were worth their lead, despite losing their way after a promising start which saw them working keeper Graeme Smith.

Saints, wayward with their passing and finding opponents or the first row of the stand, were obsessed with picking out Kenny Deuchar and trusting to luck.

The visitors might have conceded a second before they recovered their composure after Nade’s opener, with Obua wasting a chance after another Rutkiewicz error.

It was minutes before the break before route one almost saw Filipe Morais finish a Deuchar flick as the monsoon season swamped Auld Reekie.

Manager Derek McInnes looked to the bench and Moon to engineer change and he wasted no time in making an impact, primarily on home defender Lee Wallace, with a late clatter which merited a caution.

But before the hour mark Saints were level with a mirror image of Jason Scotland’s goal against Hibs in the League Cup semi-final at the same venue.

Moon and Danny Grainger found Morais wide left, he bemused the defender and made space to whip over a left foot cross from the corner flag.

This time the Trinidad striker rising to head home was Samuel, steering a precision header inside the post.

That was goal number seven for the club’s most prolific scorer, who came alive in that second period. On the other hand, Johansson, who had an ill-fated spell at Hibs last term, later confessed he hadn’t scored in the SPL for precisely 10 years.

But there was nothing wrong with his timing as he pounced yards from goal to stab home the winner, within 60 seconds of a bold substitution prompted by the controversial dismissal of Hearts defender Jose Goncalves for a 77th minute martial arts challenge on Liam Craig.

Obua had his pocket picked by a persistent Dave Mackay trying to usher the ball for a goal-kick. Jody Morris picked out Craig at the back post and Johansson did the needful when the ball squeezed into the six-yard box.

It was no more than Saints deserved, with Samuel whipping a shot wide, Morris denied by the keeper’s legs from a Craig cross and Craig himself failing to convert a similar opportunity from Mackay’s set-up.

Hearts: Balogh, Wallace, Goncalves, Palazuelos, Black (C. Thomson 74), Obua (Kingston 88), Nade, J. Thomson, Bouzid, Stewart and Glen (Witteveen 67). Subs not used: Kello, Jonsson, Novikovas and Mulrooney.

St Johnstone: Smith, Mackay, Grainger, Rutkiewicz, McCaffrey, Morris, Millar (Moon 46), Davidson (Johansson 85), Deuchar, Samuel and Morais (Craig 66).

Subs not used: Main, Irvine, Durnan and May.

Referee: Steve O’Reilly.