Hearts debrief: Two players compete for star man, ongoing set-piece flaws, referee's performance

A look back at Saturday’s match in Paisley as Hearts drew 2-2 with St Mirren.

Player of the match

It’s been two players: Zander Clark and Josh Ginnelly. The former made four good saves, three of them in the second half with Hearts chasing the game, which kept his side in the contest. At the other end there’s no way Hearts are getting anything out of this without Ginnelly. Not only did he score and earn the penalty from which Lawrence Shankland equalised, he was full of hard running, not only trying to find gaps in the opposition defence but also charging back to win back possession.

Defining moment

Josh Ginnelly brings Hearts back into the match with a goal at the back post. Picture: SNS

It didn’t end up defining the game, but the opening goal did define a lot of Hearts’ problems in recent months. Namely, being too weak away from home and losing cheap goals from set-pieces. They almost conceded from the initial corner as Joe Shaughnessy rose above Barrie McKay to head back across from the back post before it was cleared behimd. From the other side, Alex Gogic was able to place it into the six-yard box for Shaughnessy to finish himself this time.

Ref watch

The free-kick which led to St Mirren doubling their lead looked harsh, with James Hill winning his header before colliding with Mark O’Hara. But not as harsh as the red card. Haring went into the 50-50 at pace, but his challenge wasn’t high or particularly dangerous. A week after getting involved when it wasn’t required, the VAR check saw nothing wrong with this. At the least the same happened at the death with Ginnelly’s penalty, which, again, looked harsh on first viewing.

Benefit of hindsight

The starting XI, with Stephen Kingsley absent, was what most Hearts fans would have been expecting after the last two games, so it’s hard to be overly critical of the manager from the outset. But Hearts certainly did better in the second period after moving to the 3-4-3 as they used the width of the pitch a lot better.

Moment you may have missed

After Hearts tried a short corner routine in which Andy Halliday and Barrie McKay conspired to pass the ball straight out of the park, Naismith appeared to turn to his bench and lament a “******* shambles”.

Message from the editor

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