Hearts V St.Johnstone 14 August 2010

This was the first game for both teams of the 2010/2011 season.

St.Johnstone were hoping for their first opening day win at their 13th attempt since the 1975/1976 season when they beat Dundee United.

The last SPL opening game versus Hearts came in the 1999/2000 season when Hearts won 4-1.

The last 5 meeting between the sides St.Johnstone went into this game with a 3-1 winning record against Hearts.

Since the SPL started the sides have met 17 times before this won with Hearts having 4 wins, St.Johnstone having 8 wins and 5 games ending in a draw.

Hearts started the brightest when in the first 30 seconds David Templeton just hit his shot wide and just a minute later Templeton had the ball in the back of the net but he was adjudged to have strayed offside.

St.Johnstone's first shot at goal came in the 6th minute when a Liam Craig corner found the head of Michael Duberry who saw his shot blocked on the line and when Danny Grainger tried to score with the rebound he saw his shot going wide.

 It was like this the rest of the half with both teams having chances to take the lead but neither team managed to do it.

Hearts took the lead in the 45th +1 minute when Lee Wallace ran down the wing and he crossed for Calum Elliot to head past Peter Enckleman in the St.Johnstone goal.

St.Johnstone hit back instantly when Cleveland Taylor who had come on for the injured Danny Grainger and he floated the ball in from the left and Sam Parkin who was one of the new players for St.Johnstone and he also scored with his head. This goal was in the 45th + 2 minute.

The team talk by both managers would have changed from what they were originally going to say to their players.

 In the second half Marcus Haber who is on loan from West Bromwich Albion nearly added a second goal for St.Johnstone when he had a header from a tight angle that was blocked by Marion Kello in the Hearts goal.

Hearts kept putting pressure on the St.Johnstone goal but it was not breached.

The game turned in the 75th minute when the St.Johnstone defender Steven Anderson went needlessly into a reckless challenge on the Hearts player Suso and Stevie O'Reilly instantly showed Anderson the red card.

St.Johnstone are the first team of the 2010/2011 season to have had a player sent off.

This was in stark contrast to the previous season when St.Johnstone picked up their only red card of the season against Celtic in January.

The Radio Scotland pundit who was reporting on the match for Open All Mics Alan Preston who is a Hearts fan but has played for St.Johnstone thought it was defiantly a foul but it certainly did not merit the straight red card that it got.

He thought it should only have been a yellow card as it was the first game of the new season.

Hearts brought on the 2 strikers that the had brought in over the summer Stephen Elliot from Sunderland and the nemesis of St.Johnstone last season Kevin Kyle from Kilmarnock and Hearts should their intent by attacking the St.Johnstone goal at every opportunity and they nearly got a winner when in the 85th minute Arvydas Novikovas who had also come on a as a substitute crossed the ball for Kyle who headed towards the St.Johnstone goal and he saw his goal bound shot cleared of the line by the St.Johnstone defender Michael Duberry.

St.Johnstone face a tough task in their first home match of the season when they play Aberdeen who knocked 4 past Hamilton on the opening day.

Hearts (4-4-2): 25 Marián Kello, 20 Jason Thomson, 5 Darren Barr, 3 Lee Wallace, 24 Craig Thomson, 26 Marius Žaliūkas (Captain), 8 Ian Black, 6 Rubén Palazuelos, 12 David Templeton (S Elliot), 14 Calum Elliot (Kyle), 7 Suso Santana (Novikovas)

Subs: 2 Dawid Kucharski, 18 Arvydas Novikovas, 9 Kevin Kyle, 10 Stephen Elliott, 17 Ryan McGowan, 29 Paul Mulrooney, 1) Janos Balogh (goalkeeper)

Manager: Jim Jeffries

Booked: Suso Sanana & Lee Wallace

St.Johnstone (4-4-2): 1) Peter Enckleman, 2 Dave Mackay (Rutkiewicz), 3 Danny Grainger (Taylor), 6) Michael Duberry, 12) Steven Anderson, 7) Chris Millar, 4) Jody Morris (Captain), 20) Murray Davidson, 10) Liam Craig, 9) Sam Parkin (Samuel), 27) Marcus Haber

Subs: 5) Kevin Rutkiewicz, 18) Scott Dobie, 21) Collin Samuel, 37) Liam Caddis, 11) Cleveland Taylor, 32) Stevie May, 15) Graeme Smith (goalkeeper)

Manager: Derek McInnes

Booked: Dave Mackay & Jody Morris

Dismissed: Steven Anderson

Referee: Stevie O'Reilly: 4th Official: Charlie Richmond

Attendance: 14,562

Shots on target: Hearts 3 St.Johnstone 3

Shots off target: Hearts 7 St.Johnstone 5

Offside: Hearts 2 St.Johnstone 6

Corners: Hearts 9 St.Johnstone 4

Cautions: Hearts 2 St.Johnstone 2

Dismissed: Hearts 0 St.Johnstone 1

Fouls: Hearts 13 St.Johnstone 14

Man of the match: Hearts number 3) Lee Wallace

St.Johnstone Man of the Match: number 6) Michael Duberry

The Hearts Manager Jim Jeffries said after the game "They defended very well and as often happens with a red card they coped with having 10 men. I thought there were a lot of positives to take out of the match. The players started with good tempo, got crosses into the box, but Saints are well organised and to be fair, defended very well". - This quote has been taken from the Sunday Post on Sunday 15th August 2010.

 Derek McInnes said "There was no argument about the red card. It was disappointing to lose a goal after restricting Hearts to very few chances. The spirit of the team was good and the fitness of the players impressed after we went a goal down. - This quote has been taken from the Sunday Post on Sunday 15th August 2010.

Derek McInnes also said " The sending off changed everything, it was a stupid challenge. I'm not defending it although I'll be interested to see if it would still be viewed as a red card later in the season. - This quote is from the Sunday Mail on Sunday 15th August 2010.

Last modified: 17/08/2010 10:41:49