Premiership
23rd September 2023
SMISA Stadium, Paisley
St Mirren 1-0 Hearts
STRAIN 7
ATT: 7,537 (1500 away)
Referee: N WALSH
VAR: D DICKENSON
- Saints secure a narrow win over Hearts, but are the victims once more of some controversial VAR decisions as THREE goals are disallowed.
- Ryan Strain is the matchwinner, knocking in his third goal against Hearts since joining the club last year, following a great run and cross by Scott Tanser.
- Alex Gogic, Mikael Mandron and Alex Greive all have goals disallowed, with the latter two puzzling in the extreme as TV evidence seems to prove they were legitimate.
- Zach Hemming is the late hero for Saints with two important stops after spending most of the match as a spectator. The first from Cammy Devlin, is an outstanding finger tip save preventing a 77th minute equaliser, and in the 7th minute of added on time he blocks a Shankland effort to secure the victory.
- The win solidifies 2nd place in the table with Celtic winning earlier, and confirms Saints best start to a top flight season since 1948/49.
| No. | PLAYER | RATING |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Zach HEMMING | 9 |
| 23 | Ryan STRAIN  | 8 |
| 5 | Richard TAYLOR   76 | 7 |
| 13 | Alex GOGIC  | 9 |
| 22 | Marcus FRASER | 7 |
| 3 | Scott TANSER | 8 |
| 6 | Mark O’HARA  | 7 |
| 17 | Keanu BACCUS 60 | 7 |
| 10 | Conor McMENAMIN  60 | 6 |
| 11 | Greg KILTIE | 7 |
| 20 | Toyosi OLUSANYA 60 | 8 |
| 9 | Mikael MANDRON  60 | 7 |
| 21 | Alex GREIVE 60 | 7 |
| 18 | Charles DUNNE 76 | 7 |
| 15 | Caolan BOYD-MUNCE 60 | 7 |
| 8 | Ryan FLYNN | UNUSED SUB |
| 27 | Peter URMINSKY | UNUSED SUB |
| 19 | Stav NAHMANI | UNUSED SUB |
| 16 | Thierry SMALL | UNUSED SUB |
| 2 | James BOLTON | UNUSED SUB |
| 24 | Lewis JAMIESON | NOT SELECTED |
| 34 | Ethan SUTHERLAND | NOT SELECTED |
| 7 | Jonah AYUNGA | INJURED |
| AVERAGE PLAYER RATING | 7.4 |
Hearts: Clark, Atkinson (Sibbick 45), Kent, Rowles (Offiah 64), Kingsley, Baningime (Forrest 65), Nieuwenhof, Devlin (Grant 76), Boyce, Vargas, Shankland (c)
Subs Not Used: McGovern, Haring, Denholm, Tait, Lowry
| SAINTS | TEAM STATS | HEARTS |
|---|---|---|
| 13 | SHOTS | 11 |
| 4 | ON TARGET | 3 |
| 30% | POSSESSION | 70% |
| 241 | PASSES | 560 |
| 58% | PASS ACCURACY | 82% |
| 13 | FOULS | 12 |
| 2 | YELLOW CARD | 1 |
| 0 | RED CARD | 0 |
| 1 | OFFSIDES | 0 |
| 4 | CORNERS | 8 |
| POS | TEAM | P | W | D | L | F | A | GD | PTS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Celtic | 6 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 14 | 3 | 11 | 16 |
| 2 | St. Mirren | 6 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 10 | 6 | 4 | 14 |
| 3 | Motherwell | 5 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 6 | 4 | 2 | 10 |
| 4 | Rangers | 5 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 8 | 2 | 6 | 9 |
| 5 | Hibernian | 6 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 11 | 10 | 1 | 7 |
| 6 | Hearts | 6 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 7 |
| 7 | Ross County | 5 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 6 | 7 | -1 | 7 |
| 8 | Kilmarnock | 6 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 6 | 7 | -1 | 6 |
| 9 | Dundee | 6 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 7 | 10 | -3 | 6 |
| 10 | Livingston | 6 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 5 | 11 | -6 | 6 |
| 11 | Aberdeen | 5 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 9 | -6 | 2 |
| 12 | St Johnstone | 6 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 2 | 10 | -8 | 2 |