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Celebration of the Scum Slayers; St Johnstone v Hearts 23/12/17


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A decent match that. I have no idea why we took off Scougall and Millar - we effectively stopped passing the ball when they went off. 3 cracking saves in the match - 1 from Clark, 2 from McLaughlin - and a missed sitter from Lafferty... Aside from that I don't remember any clear cut chances in a pretty entertaining, high energy match. 

 

MOH didn't look interested today. Quite happy for him to go back and try someone else on the basis of the last couple of home matches. 

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I think, on the primary basis of the two games I've seen him live, that Berra is probably the best centre back in the league.

Enough positives to take for Saints though. Shaughnessy was good, Tanser continues to settle, Millar makes a difference, Scougall more central is encouraging and Alston was heavily involved, among a few other things too. It's not exactly reaching for the stars but a couple of draws, meaning an unbeaten end to the year, wouldn't be a bad way to round off 2017.

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I've seen worse 0-0 draws, particularly considering the conditions. Thought Saints overall edged it, though Hearts dominated possession for much of the second half and were far more effective at pressing than we were. Hell of a miss from Lafferty from where I sat.

As always recently when I've seen Saints, we just didn't create many chances. But I thought Johnstone did ok given the lack of service and looked surprisingly tidy with the ball at his feet.  Like Kyle, I didn't understand subbing Millar and Scougall, both of whom still looked full of energy and ambition. Scougall in particular was full of invention; really looks like he's turning into the player we bought him for. Craig more involved than I expected though Paton had another ineffectual game; I didn't think much of Foster either. Shaughnessy was the solid centre half.  Subs didn't work: O'Halloran sat too deep and only in the final minute got the run we know he's capable of. Why MacLean was brought on I don't know – he was hardly going to stretch  a defence and he was lucky to be offside to mask a couple of poor shots. Shame that Cummins – who must at least be confident – didn't get a sniff.

Hearts thankfully weren't the same team we saw last week. The two young lads were clever on the ball, but obviously lightweight and this probably wasn't the game for them to shine. Great away support though.

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I disagree with some of the analysis from others here. Felt we didn’t play the conditions in the second half and should have withdrawn Johnstone for MacLean and Alston for MOH or Wotherspoon on the hour at the latest. Still felt Scougall had plenty of offer while Alston was ineffectual and had the annoying habit of turning over possession in such a way that Hearts could immediately start a quick attack. Fortunately for us they really didn’t create an awful lot for all their possession and territory in the second half, only really going close with a deflected cross and that chance that Lafferty badly missed.

McLaughlin looks a very good keeper for Hearts-couple of daft moments in the first half that resulted in (dubious) corners for us but two outstanding saves from Shaughnessy and Wotherspoon kept it level.

Naive is definitely the word for Cochrane’s red. Unclear how much contact he made but if you dive in like that - unnecessarily as well - you leave yourself open to a booking. That said, two minutes earlier Wotherspoon put in a far worse challenge on Souttar and wasn’t booked so he can definitely count himself unlucky. Clancy was pretty poor all round IMO.

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Turns out Liam Craig still got Hearts fans seething because he "ran sixty yards" to get Cochrane a second yellow, folk wishing he gets a career ender

 

*insert Jim Jeffries image*

 

Apparently Alston dived aswell, and it was only our entire squad surrounding the ref and dragging a yellow out his pocket that brought about the second booking.

 

I assume they'll all retract their comments when they see it on Sportscene..

 

 

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Has there ever been a bigger nothing player than Liam Craig? The captain who took Hibs down in a season we pumped them four times with a youth squad. Nae wonder he was raging to the ref about wee Cochrane.

An unsurprising result with two solid teams coming off the back of hammering the Old Firm and playing in brutal conditions.

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47 minutes ago, Elixir said:

Has there ever been a bigger nothing player than Liam Craig? The captain who took Hibs down in a season we pumped them four times with a youth squad. Nae wonder he was raging to the ref about wee Cochrane.

An unsurprising result with two solid teams coming off the back of hammering the Old Firm and playing in brutal conditions.

Yes plenty Craig is actually a pretty good player 

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1 hour ago, Lang Toon Saintee said:

Yes plenty Craig is actually a pretty good player 

He's not really, though, is he? He's committed and a team player but that's – the odd exception apart – about as positive as I can be. 

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2 hours ago, Elixir said:

Has there ever been a bigger nothing player than Liam Craig? The captain who took Hibs down in a season we pumped them four times with a youth squad. Nae wonder he was raging to the ref about wee Cochrane.

An unsurprising result with two solid teams coming off the back of hammering the Old Firm and playing in brutal conditions.

Has the distinction of being emptied by Hibs two seasons in a row. (By Butcher & Stubbs)

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He's not really, though, is he? He's committed and a team player but that's – the odd exception apart – about as positive as I can be. 
Bit harsh, he regularly contributed, through goals and assists, fifteen goals for us per season in the top flight. That's just three less than Swanson last season.

No idea what happened to him at Hibs as he's come back a different player. I still think he's our best option on the left of midfield though.
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Has there ever been a bigger nothing player than Liam Craig? The captain who took Hibs down in a season we pumped them four times with a youth squad. Nae wonder he was raging to the ref about wee Cochrane.
An unsurprising result with two solid teams coming off the back of hammering the Old Firm and playing in brutal conditions.


Presumably the four times doesn’t include the time he scored the winning goal against you?
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3 hours ago, Mr Heliums said:

He's not really, though, is he? He's committed and a team player but that's – the odd exception apart – about as positive as I can be. 

So you reckon that a guy who has played around 450 games  and scored 70 of goals in the last 12 years is not a "Pretty Good" player do you...Interesting

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1 hour ago, Costanza said:

Presumably the four times doesn’t include the time he scored the winning goal against you?

That was the fifth. A penalty thanks to that imbecile Jordan McGhee. 

He then missed one the following season when we pumped them again.

heh.png

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