Hearts are back up to sixth in the Scottish Premier League after beating St Mirren 3-1.
Hearts win despite strong Buddies performance
Hearts are back up to sixth in the Scottish Premier League after condemning St Mirren to a 3-1 defeat at St Mirren Park.
The home side will have been disappointed to lose this one after creating the most chances, but lacked a killer finish in front of goal and paid the price against a clinical Hearts side.
Chris Birchall put in an impressive performance and was unlucky to finish on the losing side, but goals from Andrew Driver, Michael Stewart and Andrius Velicka helped Hearts to victory.
First half
St Mirren had the best of a generally event-less first period, frequently using their wide men but rarely causing the visiting defence problems. They had a couple of half-decent penalty shouts which were waved away.
And despite the home side's possession in the first half, Hearts took the lead in the 40th minute when Driver scored the opening goal of the game.
When St Mirren's defence failed to deal with a simple corner, the chance fell to Driver in the box and he cut his left foot across the ball, firing low into the net at the near post.
Second half
After the break Ryan McCay had a similar chance to Driver at the edge of the box, but wildly sliced the ball off target. St Mirren were creating chances and had another penalty shout turned down after 52 minutes.
However minutes later, Hearts were given a chance to increase their lead when they were awarded a penalty after Stewart was brought down by David Van Zanten. Stewart took the spot-kick himself and shot calmly past Chris Smith to make it 2-0.
Birchall continued to cause the Hearts defence problems and put in a great ball for Van Zanten who missed an easy chance from underneath the crossbar.
But St Mirren did not give up and got a goal back with 12 minutes remaining. The pressure had been building and substitute Mark Corcoran headed home from another dangerous Birchall cross.
However Hearts sealed the win just four minutes later when Velicka broke down the left and fired in at the near post.
