Hearts find out why St Mirren is 'tough place to go' in pulsating encounter adding to race for 3rd excitement

St Mirren had Hearts well and truly rattled. Already 1-0 down and lucky not to be further behind, Robert Snodgrass had to appeal for calm. It was a message to his team-mates and perhaps a message to the large travelling support.

The Buddies had, once more, put the visitors under pressure. Something they had achieved all half. Snodgrass was in his own box facing his own goal, the presence of team-mate Alex Cochrane only added uncertainty, he was being pressed by black and white shirts before having Zander Clark hack away. It was a moment which had encapsulated the first 45 minutes.

St Mirren, under Stephen Robinson, a real life jack-in-the-[technical]-box, can have that effect. Celtic have felt it, as have Hibs and Aberdeen. They have only lost once in Paisley in the league this season. It fits into that cliche of ‘hard place to go’. Hearts got away with a point in a 1-1 draw.

The home side had a game plan and they carried it out brilliantly. It essentially boiled down to stop Snodgrass and stop Hearts. The veteran midfielder, an increasingly brilliant and metronomic presence in the heart of the Gorgie midfield, is the team’s reference point. St Mirren wanted to disrupt that, led by the effervescent Alex Gogic who appeared a man on the mission to make life very, very uncomfortable for Hearts.

The Hearts response

Outside of the Old Firm, if there is one team in the Scottish Premiership you don’t want to fall behind against it's the Buddies. Something Hearts did after four minutes and it was due to that pressure. Snodgrass lost the ball, Cammy Devlin fouled fellow Aussie Keanu Baccus and Ryan Strain saw his free-kick deflected past Zander Clark. What followed was perhaps the worst half of football produced by Hearts this season, 78 per cent of possession, no shots on target and no player in a maroon jersey getting fewer touches than Lawrence Shankland. St Mirren played a huge part in that and they really should have been out of sight with Curtis Main and Alex Greive in particular passing up good opportunities.

Many different Hearts sides of the past would have already wilted, defeated early by the energy and attitude of the home side which certainly didn’t lack quality, whether it be breaking quickly or defending resolutely. This version of the Tynecastle Park side are made of different minerals. They changed shape at half-time and looked better balanced. There was improvement, largely with the competitiveness and moving the ball slightly quicker, the goal arriving out of nothing when Snodgrass, on his most difficult afternoon in a Hearts top, curled a cross towards the back post where it evaded all players, home and away, before nestling in Trevor Carson’s net.

From there it appeared there would be just one winner, especially when a well worked move led to Shankland getting on the end of a Michael Smith cross. In the end, which included a late Marcus Fraser red card, it was a very good point for Hearts to continue their unbeaten run at a ground which is becoming a fortress for the Buddies in their own pursuit of a third-place finish with the teams set to do it all again at Tynecastle Park.

St Mirren's Alex Greive holding off Lawrence Shankland and Alex Cochrane. (Photo by Alan Harvey / SNS Group)

St Mirren (3-5-2) – Carson; Fraser, Shaughnessy, Dunne; Strain (Flynn 18’), Baccus (Kiltie 46’), Gogic, O’Hara, Tanser; Main, Greive (Olusanya 78’).

Hearts (3-4-1-2) – Clark; Sibbick, Rowles, Cochrane; Smith, Devlin (Grant 80’), Snodgrass, Forrest (Humphrys 68’); McKay; Shankland, Ginnelly.