St Mirren 1-1 Hearts: MacDonald saves the best till last

TWO aspects of Hearts' performance remained prominent in the mind while exiting New St Mirren Park. The first was the desire shown to recover from a 1-0 interval deficit, the second the benefit of having a goalkeeper able to produce vital saves when required.

The visitors considered themselves unfortunate to be behind to Graham Carey's sumptuous free-kick at half-time. Purely on the balance of first-half play, St Mirren merited their advantage but there was no sign of moping from anyone in maroon. When play resumed for the second half, Hearts sought out an equaliser and scored within two minutes when Marius Zaliukas headed home a cross from Suso.

The application and character of the Edinburgh side was there for all to see and they proceeded to monopolise the second 45 minutes, unfortunate not to fashion a winning goal. Yet they still needed an insurance policy at the back. Step forward Jamie MacDonald.

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Having denied Carey twice early in the game, both from set plays, the goalkeeper was sprawling low to his left to claw the ball for a corner in stoppage time as Michael Higdon threatened to snatch victory for St Mirren. It was the epitome of another fine display from the young Scot, who simply never puts a foot or hand wrong in the first team.

Marian Kello has been virtually faultless since Jim Jefferies returned to Hearts but the Slovakian faces definite competition for his position. As Kello's recovery from a fractured wrist continues, MacDonald has become the main beneficiary with the Hungarian Janos Balogh also suffering from a wrist complaint. It remains to be seen who Jefferies will deem first-choice when everyone is available, but MacDonald's prospects can only have improved after Saturday. A score draw means Hearts' top-six aspirations continue until the final round of pre-split fixtures. Should St Johnstone lose to Dundee United at McDiarmid Park this evening, a point against Kilmarnock at Tynecastle on Saturday would secure a place in the upper echelons of the SPL. Jefferies is guaranteed to have his squad motivated for whatever task lies ahead.

"I didn't think we deserved to be down at half-time," he said. "Free-kicks were opportunities for St Mirren but Jamie had a couple of great saves. We had to deal with the aerial threat of Higdon and Billy Mehment, plus Lee Mair and Chris Innes. Carey's delivery from set-pieces was exceptional. Last week we were criticised for not defending set-plays, and what an improvement there was in us. It was fitting that Marius Zaliukas got the equaliser because he was outstanding."

It was Zaliukas who was penalised by referee Iain Brines for climbing on Higdon on 44 minutes, bringing the free-kick which Carey lashed beyond MacDonald from 25 yards. "Brines said he saw something. Marius was up so high for the header and I was angry it was a free-kick," explained Jefferies. "I thought 0-0 was a fair reflection of the first half. At half-time I said we couldn't feel sorry for ourselves because we wanted to win it. Everybody had to pick it up. Getting the early goal gave us the spur and we played better in the second half. They could have snuck it at the end, as we could. Probably 1-1 was a fair result.

"The application was a lot better than our last away match at Motherwell but this makes it all the tighter because we don't know how the St Johnstone result will pan out. Time will tell how important this point is. It was in our hands to win the last two games and, okay, we've slipped up on Saturday. On paper this was a hard game because St Mirren are not an easy team to play against.

"We got something out the game, another point. I said beforehand if we won then St Johnstone couldn't afford to lose." Gus MacPherson, the St Mirren manager, said: "A wonder strike from Graham Carey gave us the lead and we stressed the importance of starting the second half well. We didn't do that and Hearts got a goal," he said. "It could have gone either way. The play was going from end to end, I'm just frustrated we never got the winner. A draw was probably a fair result."

Carey was St Mirren's principal attacking threat. His set-pieces were awkward and his powerful and relentless attacking caused Jason Thomson and Suso continual problems down the Hearts right flank. MacPherson, though, felt the on-loan Celtic player might have defended better.

"You can see when he picks the ball up in the final third there is an excitement there among the fans because something may happen," he said. "He scored against Allan McGregor at Ibrox and he's more than capable from set-pieces. Maybe at the other end there's another side to his play. I'd certainly call him a midfield player (rather than a defender]. That's what he's known as at Celtic."

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Injuries again took their toll on Hearts during the afternoon with both Ian Black and Andy Driver retiring early after Larry Kingston had failed to make the match through illness. Black needed stitches in a head wound after clashing with Stephen Thomson, but Driver was withdrawn with cramp.

"Kingston was suffering from a virus and couldn't make it," said Jefferies.

"Black was struggling beforehand because he had an incident in his car on Friday and had to swerve and jerked his back.

"We sent him to the ground for an injection. While he was in getting his stitches he felt his back stiffening.

"We gave it another minute and then made the sub in the interest of the team. He's got four stitches but he did well. I'm sure it will clear up."