Hearts vs St Mirren. Scottish Premiership.
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Report as Hearts see off St Mirren, courtesy of two goals from in-form Lawrence Shankland
Saturday 23 December 2023 19:32, UK
Lawrence Shankland continued his hot scoring streak with a double as in-form Hearts defeated St Mirren 2-0 to move two points clear in third place in the cinch Premiership.
The Scotland forward netted in either half to make it 10 goals in 11 games for the Jambos and 15 for the season at club level.
Hearts were good value for their sixth win in eight league games, while St Mirren - who were in third place as recently as a fortnight ago after a bright start to the campaign - dropped to fifth after a fourth defeat in six.
Jambos boss Steven Naismith made three changes to the side that pulled off a surprise 2-0 win at Celtic the previous weekend as Stephen Kingsley, Jorge Grant and Alan Forrest were replaced by Barrie McKay, Yutaro Oda and Craig Halkett, who was handed his first start in a year after suffering a serious knee injury last Christmas Eve.
There was one tweak to the St Mirren team that drew 0-0 with Motherwell as Alex Greive took over from Stav Nachmani in attack.
Hearts started brightly and Alex Cochrane curled a low free-kick just wide of the far post after Aidan Denholm was fouled by Alex Gogic on the edge of the box in the opening minute.
Denholm then fizzed a ferocious half-volley just wide after a corner broke to him 20 yards out.
Keanu Baccus had St Mirren's first notable effort in the 27th minute when he sent a free-kick narrowly wide from just outside the box.
After an opening half hour in which there were no clear chances at either end, Hearts went ahead in the 33th minute when Cochrane charged down a St Mirren clearance before clipping a perfect cross from the left to the back post for
Shankland who stooped to force home a header from close range.
Shankland doubled his tally for the afternoon four minutes after the break with a nonchalant half-volley from the edge of the box after a lovely pass from McKay.
Shankland had a chance to notch his hat-trick in the 57th minute when he was set up inside the box by Beni Baningime, but Zach Hemming got down to push his low effort behind.
St Mirren, who had previously offered little in attack, briefly threw off the shackles as they tried to find a way back into the game and Gogic saw a header well saved by Zander Clark moments before Thierry Small had a shot blocked on the line by Kye Rowles, but the hosts held firm for a ninth clean sheet in 18 league games.
Hearts manager Steven Naismith:
"I think there is already interest in him (Shankland). When you have got players playing at the top of their game there is going to be interest.
"Every club in Scotland are in that same category where we are not at the elite, top level where you can just push away anyone being interested in your players - but that doesn't change anything.
"We are a club that's in a really good situation. We are progressive and we want to get better as a business, better as a football squad, and having Shanks is part of that.
"So no, everyone is comfortable. The pleasing aspect is that he is doing so well. It's credit to the team, credit to Shanks and credit to us all as a group. There is going to be interest when you are doing well.
"The first goal, Shanks is instinctively in the right place as a forward. For the second one, as soon as he takes his first touch he knows what he is doing.
"There's no panic, there's no rushed feeling. As soon as it leaves his boot he knows it's a goal, 100 per cent. It's top, top quality but that's Shanks. That shows you his value to us."
St Mirren boss Stephen Robinson:
"We got what we deserved. First half we pressed really well and won the ball back on numerous occasions and had lots of opportunities to play forward and penetrate but we didn't do that with any quality.
"That's frustrating because we're better than that. We ended up losing a goal from a set-play which has been our Achilles heel. It's so frustrating.
"Lawrence has scored a lot of goals there and we pointed that out beforehand but we went in 1-0 because of that, not because of them opening us up.
"The second goal was exceptional and it killed any momentum we had. That's the difference between the levels, the financial disparity is huge and that's why they're able to get players like Lawrence Shankland. It was an incredible
finish."
Hearts' next Scottish Premiership game is away to Hibernian on December 27, live on Sky Sports. Kick-off 8pm.
St Mirren host Kilmarnock on the same night. That match kicks off at 7.45pm.
