Hearts vs St. Johnstone. Scottish Premiership.
TynecastleAttendance16,589.
Match report as Hearts secure fourth win in five games to move eight points clear of Motherwell in third place thanks to two goals from Josh Ginnelly; eighth consecutive league defeat keeps St Johnstone two points adrift of Dundee
Wednesday 19 January 2022 09:59, UK
Josh Ginnelly scored a second-half double as Hearts defeated St Johnstone 2-0 at Tynecastle to move eight points clear of nearest rivals Motherwell in the race for third place in the Premiership.
It was a fourth win in five games for Robbie Neilson's high-flying side, while Saints were left to rue an eighth consecutive league defeat that keeps them two points adrift of Dundee at the foot of the table.
Scotland centre-back John Souttar started for Hearts despite anger from some of the club's supporters over the fact he agreed a pre-contract with Rangers last week.
New signing Nathaniel Atkinson was listed among the substitutes, alongside top scorer Liam Boyce, who is still nursing a calf problem.
Saints manager Callum Davidson gave debuts to January signings Daniel Cleary and Nadir Ciftci.
Every touch from Souttar in the early stages was loudly jeered by sections of the Hearts support, although most of the dissent towards the defender subsided as the match wore on, with many fans attempting to drown out the lingering jeers with applause whenever he was in possession.
The hosts had the first chance in the ninth minute after Alex Cochrane headed Ginnelly's cross back across goal, but Michael Smith volleyed well wide from a tight angle.
Hearts enjoyed the bulk of possession but struggled to create any clear chances in the first half. Smith saw two attempts from the edge of the box charged down in quick succession in the 23rd minute before Barrie McKay had a low strike tipped behind by Zander Clark.
Saints' first chance came in the 25th minute when Ciftci got in behind the home defence, but Craig Gordon made a fine save.
The Turkish forward had another attempt from the edge of the box blocked by the chest of the Hearts goalkeeper in the 36th minute after he nicked the ball off Stephen Kingsley just outside the box.
Hearts made the perfect start to the second half when they took the lead within 20 seconds of the kick-off as Ginnelly ran on to a through ball from McKay and fired past Clark from just inside the box.
Saints had a good chance to equalise in the 65th minute when Michael O'Halloran cut the ball back for Stevie May but the striker fluffed his effort straight at Gordon.
A minute later Hearts attacker Gary Mackay-Steven saw an angled shot parried by Clark and Murray Davidson made a firm challenge on Ginnelly just as he looked set to knock the rebound in
The home side sealed their win in the 75th minute when Ginnelly slotted past Clark from 10 yards out after a brilliant run and pass from McKay to set him up.
Hearts boss Robbie Neilson: "John is a mentally strong character. He's come back from three career-threatening injuries. I only know a few people who have come back from a single Achilles rupture, never mind three.
"You know he's very strong mentally, he can blank out the background noise and get on with the game. I thought he played very well."
Asked if he felt the booing of Souttar was counterproductive to the team, Neilson acknowledged the fans have a right to vent their feelings.
He said: "You pay your money, you come and to an extent you can say what you want. To an extent.
"John understands the situation. We understand it. But I keep coming back to it being about the football club moving forward.
"At this moment in time, what's best is that we put our best players on the pitch to win games and take us forward. The aim for us is trying to get to Europe. What a massive achievement it would be to get promoted from the Championship and qualify for Europe in the first year."
St Johnstone boss Callum Davidson: "The first half was even. There were good signs there in the first half. We worked really hard on our shape, our discipline and our transition. I thought we did that really well.
"You go in at half-time and basically say to the players: 'Go and do that again'. Then we're 30 yards into their half and five seconds later we're 1-0 down. It was really disappointing.
"And the second goal was the same. We were attacking and five seconds later we've been done on the counter again. It's hard to take.
"The players put a lot into the game but we can't concede goals like that - especially with the position we're in - at a place like Tynecastle."
Dundee United visit Kilmarnock in the Scottish Cup fourth round on Saturday; kick-off 3pm. St Mirren face a trip to Ayr United at the same time in the same competition.
