Hearts overcame Benny Beningham’s early red card to produce a stunning 2-0 victory over St Mirren to restore their six-point cushion at the top of the William Hill Premier League.
The midfielder was dismissed for a rash challenge on Rolando Idowu after just 15 minutes as the match remained goalless, draining the life out of a pumped-up Tynecastle crowd and leaving the Jambos up against it.
But – as they did in a 1-0 win away to Dundee with 10 men on Sunday – the spirited league leaders found a way to pull off a potentially huge win thanks to second-half goals from captain Laurence Shankland and substitute Thomas Magnusson.
Derek McInnes’ side are now six points clear of Rangers and Celtic, who they host in their next league game on Sunday.
The Hearts boss made four changes to the side that started Sunday’s win at Dundee, including handing Scotland goalkeeper Craig Gordon his first start of the season in place of the suspended Alexander Schwallow.
There were three changes to the Saints side that started Saturday’s defeat at home to Falkirk, with Oisin Smith coming in immediately after being recalled from his loan spell at Partick.
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Derek McInnes is full of praise for his ten-man Hearts side after their 2-0 win over St Mirren, talks in the title race and gives an update on Rodgers Mat.
Hearts looked comfortable in the opening stages until Stuart Findlay’s loose pass put Bunningime in trouble just outside the Hearts box and the midfielder threw in a reckless challenge on Idowu. The midfielder was initially shown a yellow card before it was upgraded to a red after referee Kevin Clancy was asked to go to the monitor.
Hearts initially looked scared after this unforeseen setback and were relieved to see Idowu’s brilliant strike from the corner of the box ruled out for offside in the 21st minute.
However, the hosts soon began to gather their composure and Claudio Braga had two good chances within a minute, first curling Harry Milne’s cross just wide of the post before volleying over after getting in behind his pals’ defence.
Lawrence Shankland scored
Hearts should have gone ahead just before the break when Alexandros Kiziridis chased down Smith and bore down on goal, but keeper George pulled off a vital save before denying Braga a save.
The leaders made a strong start to the second half with Kiziridis pouncing from the right before George denied Shankland after finishing Braga’s low delivery from the left.
The 10 men, sensing an opportunity to clinch a huge win in the title race, came in front as Blair Spittal got down the right and sent a low delivery across the box for Shankland to push past George, sparking delirious scenes in a flurry of Tynecastle.
Just as the Saints began to pile on the pressure, Hearts rose up the pitch and scored their second goal in the 80th minute when substitute Magnusson proceeded to nod cheerfully into an empty net after Milne’s shot was saved by George.
“We dug Benny out of the hole – he was in tears”
Derek McInnes speaking to Sky Sports:
“We dug Benny out of a hole tonight, players. We talked about it at half-time. The boy was in tears.
“When we needed a big performance, we delivered. We just need to keep going.”
“We have a long way to go and we have so many points, but we are in a strong position. There are no two ways about it.
“We’ve been beating teams around us. We haven’t lost to them. I think we’re building a lot of confidence, but we know every game is a challenge.”
“From Dundee, Livingstone, Rangers, every team we play in this league. I’ve said it so many times, we’re not entirely better than everyone else, but we’ve got something special here.”
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Stephen Robinson with a scathing review of St Mirren’s heavy defeat by 10-man Hearts.
McInnis is confident that Mato will be a Hearts player
McInnes is convinced that Rogers Mato will sign for Hearts despite mixed messages coming from his current club FC Vardar, who claim they have agreed to sell the player to Sporting Kansas City.
Less than 24 hours later Hearts announced a pre-contract agreement to sign the Ugandan international Matohis club FC Vardar claim they have agreed to sell the player to an MLS club.
On Tuesday, Scottish Premiership leaders Hearts confirmed that the striker will move to Tynecastle Park in the summer, following the expiry of his contract with the North Macedonian club.
However, on Wednesday, Vardar announced that he had accepted a $1 million offer from documents from MLS that they claim prove the deal is legitimate.
“He signed a pre-contract,” McInnes said Ski Sports.
“The boy is dying to come. I think he may have been under a lot of pressure to maybe look elsewhere, but he kept his word. I enjoyed the conversations I had with the boy a few weeks ago.
“This is something we’ve been targeting him for a while.
“We’re excited to have him with us and we’re delighted that he’s shown us that commitment. Anything else I don’t really know because we can only deal with what we deal with at Hearts.”
Asked if he hoped to potentially join in January, he said: “Certainly that would be my hope. Whether we can, I don’t know.”