St Mirren vs Hearts LIVE reaction as Derek McInnes' men stumble big time in Premiership title race

Player ratings

St Mirren: George 6, Fraser 7, King 6, Freckleton 7, Richardson 6 (McMenamin 71, 3), Phillips 7, Gogic 7, Devaney 8 (Idowu 70, 3), John 7, Nlundulu 6, Mandron 6 (Etete 77, 3). Subs: Mullen, Tanser, Sobowale, Donnelly, Campbell, Calvin.

Booked: King

Hearts: Schwolow 8, Steinwender 6 (Kerjota 90, 1), Halkett 4, Findlay 6, Milne 7, McEntee 6, Leonard 7 (Ageu 90, 1), Baningime 6 (Magnusson 79, 2), Kyziridis 4 (Kent 37, 6), Braga 6, Kabore 5 (Kabangu 79, 2). Subs: Gordon, McCart, Spittal, Altena.

Booked: Kabore

Sent-off: Halkett

Ref watch: Steven McLean got it spot on as he dismissed Halkett for his last man challenge on Devaney but the whistler needed VAR John Beaton’s help after initially giving Saints a penalty for a foul that was outside of the box.

MoM: Manchester United Under-21 skipper Jacob Devaney was thrown in for his first star just 24 hours after moving from Old Trafford. Reserve football was no preparation for this fierce battle but the kid coped well.

Five talking points

Celtic boss Martin O’Neill admits his side have been left chasing. Rangers gaffer Danny Rohl has ordered his men to go on the hunt.

And now Derek McInnes’ leaders of the Premiership pack are going to have to show they can live with their rivals breathing right down their necks.

Hearts were hoping to go nine points clear in Paisley.

Now they face the prospect of having both Old Firm clubs closing to within three if they can win their games tonight.

For the third time in six games, the Jambos found themselves down to 10 men after Craig Halkett’s first-half ordering off.

But unlike their wins over Saints in Gorgie and Dundee at Dens, this time their resolve was broken by a Buddies side who thoroughly deserved their battling victory.

Both Old Firm bosses have done their best to heap the pressure on McInnes’ team by insisting they are the team to beat.

O’Neill even seemed to suggest it was their title to lose as he claimed the league crown was already resting in Gorgie hands.

McInnes, though, was left peering through his fingers as he watched Halkett get his marching orders.

But that was nothing on his anguish as Miguel Freckleton headed home late on.

Hearts barely had time to catch a breath during a frantic first 45 in which the Buddies harried their every step.

But the Jambos were up against it on the half-hour mark when Stuart Findlay lost his footing under pressure from Mikael Mandron.

Halkett did his best to retrieve the situation but when he slipped too, catching the on-rushing Jacob Devaney on the edge of the box, referee Steven McLean had no option to punish the last-man challenge with a red.

St Mirren continued to bombard the Alex Schwolow’s goal, with a Marcus Fraser goal disallowed for offside after Alex Gogic headed against the post.

They thought they had a spot-kick on half-time when Harry Milne fouled Jayden Richardson - but VAR stepped in to rule the trip outside the box.

Scholow had to make another huge stop to deny Mandron just after the break but there was no stopping Freckleton’s thumping header as the defender got on Declan John’s corner.

Here's five talking points from Paisley.

McInnes: Hearts wanted to keep Wilson

Derek McInnes admits he wanted to keep James Wilson at Tynecastle before Tottenham pipped Arsenal to his signature.

The 18-year-old Scotland cap joined Spurs on deadline day on a loan deal until the end of the season and the rising star will be thrust into their development squad to see if he can cut it.

But Jambos boss McInnes told BBC Scotland:

Sometimes January can bring uncertainty, but we've tried to get our work done early on. We had a couple things lined up in the first few days. I don't think many managers get everything they want. Ideally, we'd maybe have gone for a bigger striker with a different profile. Those are difficult to get and we hit the bar with a couple of targets which ran away from us.

I didn't want James [Wilson] to go. I tried to sell it to him, being part of the team here, being ready, working hard to get into the team. I was keen that he'd stay closer to home, even in a cooperation agreement.

But I understand his head being turned. It's a different pathway, he's going to play academy football and I think he's better than that. I'm not going to stop him if he really wanted to do it, and I wish him well because he's such a good kid.

Gogic has the blinkers on

Alex Gogic says he’s pulled on the blinkers to blank out the threat of Kilmarnock to St Mirren’s Premiership safety.

The midfielder goes into tonight’s clash against leaders Hearts with the chance to carve out a six-point cushion over

the second-bottom side.

Seven games without a win in the league, Gogic said:

Kilmarnock winning against Aberdeen at the weekend puts on more pressure.

But we’ve got to look forward and just keep doing what we’re doing.

Then hopefully we will play well again and we can get those three points. We need to look at the positives (of a 0-0 against Dundee) – we didn’t lose, we had a good clean sheet and we had a couple of chances. We maybe could have won the game.

There’s no doubt Hearts is a big, big game.

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