PERTH. Hearts topped St. Johnstone. Hearts was much superior in terms of ball possession (63%) and that was among the factors of its victory.​

Graham Carey didn’t score a decisive penalty (39′). That would have allowed St. Johnstone to draw the match.​

The match was played at the McDiarmid Park stadium in Perth on Wednesday and it started at 7:45 pm local time. The referee was William Collum with the collaboration of Alastair Mather and Colin Drummond. The 4th official was Euan Anderson. The weather was clear. The temperature was pleasant at 17.8 degrees Celsius or 63.99 Fahrenheit. The humidity was 57%.​

Match Statistics​

St. Johnstone

2 - 3

Hearts

  • ! 37 Ball Possession 63
Shots
  • 16 Total 15
  • 3 On Target 3
  • 13 Off Target 12
  • 0 Shots blocked 0
  • 94 Attack 80
  • 65 Dangerous attack 55
  • 0 Ball safe 0
  • 2 Penalties 1
  • 4 Corners 11
  • 2 Off Sides 1
Fouls
  • 14 Total 7
  • 4 Yellow Cards 1
  • 0 Double Yellow 0
  • 0 Red Card 0
Other
  • 8 Substitutions 3

Ball possession

Hearts had a superior ball possession 63% while St. Johnstone was struggling with a 37% ball possession.

Attitude and shots

St. Johnstone had a more offensive attitude with 65 dangerous attacks and 16 shots of which 3 were on target. Nevertheless, Hearts was capable to find the solution to win this contest.​

St. Johnstone shot 16 times, 3 on target, 13 off target. On the opposite side, Hearts shot 15 times, 3 on target, 12 off target.

Cards

St. Johnstone received 4 yellow cards (Graham Carey, Ryan McGowan, Alex Mitchell and Liam Gordon). Talking about the opposition, Hearts received 1 yellow card (Robert Snodgrass).

Match Timeline

Graham Carey- Yellow
9'
Ryan McGowan(var)
12'
Ryan McGowan- Yellow
13'
14'
L. Shankland(penalty)
25'
33'
Alan Forrest(goal)
Ali Crawford(var)
38'
Graham Carey- missed penaltyGraham Carey
39'
Stevie May(penalty)
55'
55'
63'
Barrie McKay- sub ->Jorge Grant
63'
64'
Barrie McKay(goal)Cammy Devlin
65'
65'
Cammy MacPherson - sub ->Graham Carey
70'
70'
77'
79'
84'
Liam Gordon - Yellow
90'

Standings

Standings
Team
Pts
Pl
Last 5
Celtic
92
33
Rangers
79
33
Aberdeen
53
33
Hearts
48
33
Hibernian
44
33
St. Mirren
44
33
Livingston
42
33
Motherwell
37
33
St. Johnstone
33
33
Dundee United
31
33
Kilmarnock
31
33
Ross County
27
33

After this contest, St. Johnstone will stay with 24 points like Livingston to sit in the 6th place. Talking about the opposition, Hearts will have 28 points to hold in the 3rd place.

Next matches

In the next match in the Premiership, St. Johnstone will host Dundee United on the 2nd of January with a 10-10 head to head stats.

Hearts will host Hibernian on the 2nd of January with a 21-11 head to head statistic in favor of Hearts (16 draws).

St. Johnstone – Formation

St. Johnstone
G
Remi Matthews 1.England
5.8
D
Ryan McGowan 13.Australia
6.1
70' 13'
D
Liam Gordon 6.Scotland
6.9
90'
D
Andy Considine 4.Scotland
6.8
M
Drey Wright 14.England
6.7
M
M. Hallberg 22.Sweden
6.4
25'
M
Adam Montgomery 19.Scotland
6.7
M
Ali Crawford 21.Scotland
6.2
65'
F
Graham Carey 23.Republic of Ireland
6.4
70' 9'
F
Nicky Clark 37.Scotland
6.7
65'
F
Stevie May 7.Scotland
7.3
55'
Substitutes
G
Elliot Parish 12.England
D
James Brown 2.Malta
D
Alex Mitchell 5.England
6.5
25' 84'
M
Daniel Phillips 34.England
M
David Wotherspoon 10.Canada
7.0
70'
M
Cammy MacPherson 18.Scotland
7.1
70'
F
Jamie Murphy 29.Scotland
7.8
65' 79'
F
Connor McLennan 26.Scotland
6.2
65'
F
Michael O'Halloran 11.Scotland

St. Johnstone started with a 3-4-1-2 line-up (3-4-1-2).

The manager Callum Davidson decided to play with the following team: Remi Matthews (5.8), Ryan McGowan (6.1), Liam Gordon (6.9), Andy Considine (6.8), Drey Wright (6.7), Melker Hallberg (6.4), Ali Crawford (6.2), Adam Montgomery (6.7), Graham Carey (6.4), Nicky Clark (6.7) and Stevie May (7.3).

The home team had on the bench: Elliot Parish, James Brown, Alex Mitchell (6.5), Daniel Phillips, David Wotherspoon (7.0), Cameron MacPherson (7.1), Jamie Murphy (7.8), Connor McLennan (6.2) and Michael O’Halloran.

St. Johnstone could not rely on the presence of Cammy MacPherson (injured).

Substitutions

St. Johnstone made 5 changes: Melker Hallberg for Alex Mitchell (25′), Ali Crawford for Connor McLennan (65′), Nicky Clark for Jamie Murphy (65′), Graham Carey for Cammy MacPherson (70′) and Ryan McGowan for David Wotherspoon (70′).

Best player: Jamie Murphy​

The most impressive player for St. Johnstone was Jamie Murphy.

His rating is (7.8) with 1 goal, 10 passes (90% accurate) and 0 key passes. He was won 2 duels out of 2. He performed 1 cross.

His performance was remarkable also because he started the match from the bench before entering the filed in the 65′.

Hearts – Formation

Hearts
G
Z. Clark 28.Scotland
6.6
D
Toby Sibbick 21.England
6.3
D
Kye Rowles 15.Australia
6.6
D
Alex Cochrane 19.England
6.8
M
Alan Forrest 17.Scotland
7.4
63' 33'
M
Cammy Devlin 14.Australia
6.1
M
Robert Snodgrass 77.Scotland
6.1
55'
M
Andy Halliday 16.Scotland
6.9
F
Josh Ginnelly 30.England
6.2
77'
F
L. Shankland 9.Scotland
7.9
14'
F
Jorge Grant 7.England
6.5
63'
Substitutes
G
R. Stewart 13.Scotland
D
Nathaniel Atkinson 12.Australia
D
Michael Smith 2.Northern Ireland
6.4
63'
D
L. Neilson 20.Scotland
M
Orestis Kiomourtzoglou 8.Germany
6.3
77'
M
F. Pollock 39.Scotland
F
Barrie McKay 18.Scotland
7.2
63' 64'

Hearts started with an extremely aggressive line-up (3-4-3).

Robbie Neilson played with: Zander Clark (6.6), Toby Sibbick (6.3), Kye Rowles (6.6), Alex Cochrane (6.8), Alan Forrest (7.4), Cameron Devlin (6.1), Robert Snodgrass (6.1), Andy Halliday (6.9), Josh Ginnelly (6.2), Lawrence Shankland (7.9) and Jorge Grant (6.5).

The following players were sitting on the bench: Ross Stewart, Bobby McLuckie, Nathaniel Atkinson, Michael Smith (6.4), Lewis Neilson, Orestis Kiomourtzoglou (6.3), Barrie McKay (7.2) and Finlay Pollock.

Substitutions

Hearts made 3 changes: Jorge Grant for Barrie McKay (63′), Alan Forrest for Michael Smith (63′) and Josh Ginnelly for Orestis Kiomourtzoglou (77′).

Best player: Lawrence Shankland​

The most impressive player for Hearts was Lawrence Shankland.

His rating is (7.9) with 1 goal, 23 passes (82% accurate) and 3 key passes. He was won 4 duels out of 10. He performed 1 cross.

Results of the day

These are the results of the day in the Premiership.​