The key lesson St Mirren learned to defeat Hearts as Stephen Robinson talks red card and penalty verdict sent

Stephen Robinson says St Mirren used the lessons of playing a 10-man Hearts last month to full effect in a 1-0 win over the Premiership leaders.

Miguel Freckelton’s late second half headers was enough to see Derek McInnes’ side go away empty handed from the clash, having already drawn in the league and been eliminated from the Premier Sports Cup in Paisley this season. Hearts were reduced to 10 men in the first half after a last man challenge by Craig Halkett followed from poor defensive play the back.

A penalty decision for Saints was overturned after a foul by Harry Milne was judged to have committed on the edge of the box as opposed to inside it. St Mirren boss Robinson insisted that the red card did impact proceedings and the penalty decision was correct, as his side build momentum back in the league after a drop in form, following Premier Sports Cup glory.

Stephen Robinson on St Mirren vs Hearts red card and penalty decisions

He said: “That was more like us. We are starting to build some momentum again. To put on a display like that against the league leaders is pleasing. The sending-off impacted the game, but we stayed patient and we deserved to win.

"We missed a few chances and it was right that the penalty was overturned. But the subs did well. We put a lot of balls into the box and we got our rewards."

Hearts defeated the Buddies 2-0 at Tynecastle in January after a Beni Baningime red, and Robinson insisted pointers were taken to ensure defeat wasn’t had against a side with a man light again. He added on Sportsound: "Hearts are a very good side and very difficult side to break down. We played them with 10 men a few weeks ago and weren't able to do that, so we learned our lesson and showed patience.

St Mirren 1-0 Hearts verdict

"We thoroughly deserved the win. We started really brightly, our pressing was back to what it was. We had a penalty overturned, rightly so. Both decisions were outside the box. It was important we continued to be patient, play balls in behind. The subs were very good when they came on and eventually we got our just rewards.

"That's us four unbeaten now. There's light at the end of the tunnel. People forgot we won a cup six weeks ago. We've got the opportunity to go into the quarter-final of another cup on Friday. The boys have massively overachieved but haven't forgotten what the basics are. We need to try to stay in the division and the result tonight helps us."

Hearts now must wait to see if their six point gap at the top of the league is cut to three. Rangers host Kilmarnock at Ibrox and Celtic travel to Aberdeen, and both can come to within a game of the Jambos, albeit Hearts are likely to still have a better goal difference, heading into a derby with Hibs next week.