• 13 hours ago
Mark Atkinson reports from Tynecastle.
Transcript
00:00It will be St. Johnston that sits at the bottom of the Premiership table on Christmas Day
00:05after Hearts won 2-1 here at Tyne Castle in the William Hill Premiership.
00:10It's the Christmas songs blaring out at full time.
00:13A bit of festive feel-good for these Hearts fans who 72 hours ago
00:17were during their team off the pitch following a 2-2 draw with Petrobe Cub
00:21that eliminated them from the Conference League.
00:23They were much more synergy between team and supporters here
00:28helped by a good performance by Hearts in the first half
00:31taking the lead when birthday boy James Penrice headed them into a deserved lead
00:36against a St. Johnston team that were really poor in the first half
00:40and could have been further behind
00:42had James Wilson's strength not been chopped off for a very marginal offside call.
00:47To be fair to Simo Vallacari and his Saints team
00:50they came back out at the break, reinvigorated and got an equaliser
00:54when they were owed a penalty for a handball by Penrice
00:57converted coolly by Graham Carey
01:00and there was a moment where St. Johnston could have gone on to score a second
01:04adding a centre back far just wide
01:06but to be honest Hearts rebuked pretty quickly
01:09and scored a really good winner actually through Blair Spittle
01:11a lovely volley heading home after a corner from James Penrice
01:16wasn't clear properly, he volleyed the ball
01:18plum into the bottom corner past an unsighted Josh Ray.
01:23St. Johnston tried to get back into the match
01:25but they couldn't really find a way through this Hearts team
01:28in fact they were limited in attack
01:30Hearts kept them at bay pretty well
01:32and then we feel Cammy Devlin putting on a Tiger-ish performance
01:36to make sure they dominated that part.
01:38It means that Hearts actually not just moved off the bottom of the Premier League ship
01:41they are up to 10th place out of the relegation zone
01:44with St. Johnston on bottom spot
01:46and then Ross County a point ahead of them on 11th.
01:50The action hasn't stopped though
01:52it's the Boxing Day diary between Hearts and Hibbs
01:54at both the capital clubs
01:56out of trouble momentarily
01:57that game will be huge on Boxing Day.
01:59Full time at Tyne Castle
02:00it finished Hearts 2, St. Johnston 1.