Saturday’s victory away at St Mirren was more of a battle to be won than a football match to be contested. And Heart of Midlothian were more than up for the fight.
Fans could be forgiven for having approached this game with a sense of trepidation. With Stephen Robinson’s men still very much in the midst of a top-six challenge, there was simply more riding on the game’s outcome. Add in the blustering, swirling wind and the absence of three key players – Beni Baningime, Calem Nieuwenhof and Lawrence Shankland – and it isn’t hard to see why many of the travelling support probably would have settled for a point shortly before proceedings got underway in Paisley.
In the end, though, Hearts would claim all three – and would be worthy winners. They stood up to the physical battle and ground out the win in testing circumstances in a professional and workmanlike manner. Industry, not guile, was the order of the day: and Hearts understood that from the get-go.
So, where was the match won and lost? How did Hearts squeeze past St Mirren to get back to winning ways? Let’s take a look.
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Can’t build out
Saturday’s game was unusual for Hearts for one simple reason: they struggled to keep a hold of the ball. The vast majority of league games this season see Hearts rack up around 60-65 per cent possession but in Paisley, that figure dropped to 42 per cent. Baningime’s absence surely played its part here (no other Hearts midfielder takes as good care of the ball), as did Shankland’s (the striker’s ability to drop deep and hold the ball up is crucial to Hearts’ efforts when building out from the back), while the blustery conditions also have to be factored in.
There was one more factor: St Mirren’s press. Whenever Hearts were building out from the back, the home side would push forward to cut off passing lanes and put pressure on the ball, trying to force Hearts into going long so that their centre-backs could win the resulting aerial duel. For all their qualities, it was a fight that the forward pairing of Alan Forrest and Kenneth Vargas simply couldn’t win.
Here’s an example early on at the SMiSA Stadium. Zander Clark plays a short goal kick and St Mirren spring forward. The front three of Toyosi Olusanya, Mikael Mandron and Greg Kiltie were essentially able to press Hearts’ back three man-for-man, while Caolan Boyd-Munce and Hyeok-kyu Kwon would block the short pass to Cammy Devlin and Macaulay Tait, forcing Hearts to go long. Below are a couple of typical examples.
St Mirren’s press halted many a Hearts attack before it could really get going and it soon became clear that patient and measured build-up play wasn’t a viable route to goal. Sustained periods of possession were a rarity for either side. Neither team were able to keep a hold of the ball and get it circulating, and the end result was that play became extremely congested, especially out wide.
Here’s a typical example. Hearts have the ball out on the far touchline (the majority of attacks went down this side in both halves) and St Mirren are determined to keep the visitors boxed in. Olusanya drops, Kwon drifts over, Elvis Bwomono pushes right up and Marcus Fraser drifts wide to protect the space in behind the wing-back while Alex Gogic and Richard Taylor also push up. All of a sudden, Hearts have nowhere to go, and no wonder: eight of St Mirren's 10 outfield players are squeezed into that one area of the pitch.
The biggest problem facing Hearts was that they simply couldn’t find the necessary space to truly hurt Robinson’s men. But then little gaps started to appear.
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Finding pockets
Space was at a premium throughout Saturday’s contest, but there were a few occasions where Hearts managed to beat the press and find some. Jorge Grant was the standout for Hearts in this regard, picking up intelligent positions and acting as the launchpad for his side’s more promising attacking moves. The Englishman wasn’t always the one to provide the final ball, but he did get his team moving when the opportunity arose by finding pockets of space and shifting it on quickly.
There were a few occasions where Hearts had bodies forward and were trying to find a way through, and they often attempted a similar ploy. Take a look at the two examples below. In both, Hearts have the ball in a decent position and the man in possession tries to clip a ball in behind and to the left to find the line-breaking run of a midfielder. Tait’s touch lets him down in the first instance (he should really try and play it first time inside to the unmarked Alan Forrest), while the pass is over-hit in the second. But it’s clearly an area where Hearts believe they can find some joy.
Grant’s first-half penalty changed the dynamic of the game and forced St Mirren to be more proactive when attempting to win the ball back – but this led to gaps appearing elsewhere.
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Exposing the high line
Alex Cochrane’s corner would put Hearts 2-0 up shortly after the hour mark but the truth is that Hearts could have been out of sight by then. In an effort to squeeze the pitch even further, the hosts’ back three pushed right up, leaving them vulnerable to through balls in behind.
Take a look at the example below towards the end of the first half. Tait intercepts and quickly releases Vargas but on this occasion, Zach Hemming is quick off his line to sweep up.
Then, within a minute or two of the restart, it happens again. This time it's Grant picking out Vargas' run and although Gogic wins the initial ball, Vargas gets a touch on it to knock it back to the onrushing Devlin.
Devlin chooses his moment carefully, waiting for Gogic to commit before sliding it out to Vargas - but the Costa Rican's composure deserts him just when it matters most.
Hearts were getting closer, and it seemed as though Mandron’s own goal with half an hour to go had left St Mirren with a mountain to climb. But they had some effective attacking strategies of their own.
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St Mirren attack the centre
The Buddies are a fairly direct team at the best of times, and the conditions on Saturday only exacerbated the effect. Clear-cut chances were hard to come by – Olusanya’s goal was the only shot from open play inside Hearts’ box, for instance – but that didn’t mean that Hearts had it all their own way in Paisley.
There was one vulnerability on the visitors’ part that caused a few problems: defending the centre from counter-attacks. Every so often, St Mirren would win the ball back and burst forward as Hearts’ defenders hastily retreated, leaving a gaping chasm in the middle of the park. Robinson’s side needed no second invitation to exploit it.
Take a look at the examples below. In both instances, Tait fouls the man in possession to bring the attack to a halt, but there's no denying they are promising opportunities. Just look at Scott Tanser's supporting run down the left in the first example - if Olusanya slips him through, who knows how the attack will end.
The warning signs were there, and so it should have come as little surprise when Olusanya bustled his way up the park to reduce the arrears midway through the second half. A Grant ball into the box is cleared, and then the St Mirren striker is on his bike. Look how deep his starting position is.
Dexter Lembikisa is caught out by the bounce of the ball (understandable, given its erratic nature throughout the blustery contest), standing his ground rather than attacking it. Cochrane should continue his run in behind to provide cover but instead holds his position, and Olusanya takes full advantage of Hearts' indecision to burst through.
Clark should have been quicker off his line to narrow the angle, but take nothing away from Olusanya: the striker used his body brilliantly and kept his composure when it mattered.
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Decisions, decisions
The game opened up a little in the second half as St Mirren went searching for a way back into the game, and there were a couple of instances where Hearts could have wrapped the game up. There was just one problem: on both occasions, the man in possession had already long made up his mind about what he was going to do next, even if it wasn’t the right option.
Take a look at this Vargas chance early on in the second half. The Costa Rican has done brilliantly to squeeze his way past his opponents, using his body expertly to fashion a sight at goal. He’s surrounded by black-and-white shirts and his head is understandably down, and so he has a pop at goal. But just look at how much space Forrest is in out on the left – with a little more awareness, it’s surely 2-0.
Given the amount of opposition pressure he was under, it’s perhaps understandable why Vargas was unable to get his head up and pick out the best option. There are no such excuses for Devlin though, who really ought to have wrapped up the win with 10 minutes to go.
Alex Gogic had made a habit of carrying the ball out from the back and driving forward, and Devlin spots that it’s happening again. He dispossesses the Cypriot with a superb tackle and then he’s through on goal.
Vargas and Grant are up in support and as Devlin advances towards goal, it becomes clear that he’s already decided that he’s squaring it to Vargas, even though the Costa Rican is marked and the pass isn’t really on.
Devlin continues driving forward, drawing the goalkeeper (who has also narrowed the angle for the pass to Vargas, making it a very difficult ball to play). He has three options now: square it to Vargas, cut it back to Grant, or have a go himself. The pass to Vargas is the trickiest option of the three but that’s what Devlin goes for and somehow, the chance comes to nothing.
It wouldn't matter in the end as Hearts saw out the win in a professional manner - but the margin of victory could have been bigger had the men in maroon made better decisions in the final third.
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