St Mirren edged a hard-fought 1–0 win over ten-man Hearts at the SMiSA Stadium, dealing a blow to the visitors’ hold on top spot in the Scottish Premiership.
The turning point came on 29 minutes when captain Craig Halkett was sent off for denying Jacob Devaney a clear goalscoring chance, leaving Hearts to defend deep for much of the match.
They held firm until late on, but Miguel Freckleton’s close-range header in the closing minutes secured the points for the hosts and added pressure at the summit with Celtic and Rangers still to play tomorrow.
Here are some of the key quotes from Derek McInnes’ post match media conference.
On playing with ten men
“Playing with ten men is never something you want because it puts extra stress on everyone, but I thought the lads were outstanding in terms of organisation, spirit and teamwork.”
“We restricted them to very little and, based on the effort and resilience shown, a point wouldn’t have been undeserved.”
On the red card
“It’s a red card — there’s no complaint about that. We caused it ourselves.”
“We had two opportunities to play forward, didn’t take them, and ended up getting ourselves into trouble. From that point on, it takes away any realistic chance of winning the game.”
“You can’t keep playing with fire. Going down to ten men has consequences, not just in the game but for the weeks ahead.”
On conceding the goal
“We force them into a corner and we’ve just got to win our header. If we do, we probably see the game out.”
“We don’t pick up properly, we don’t attack the ball aggressively enough, and it ends up in the back of the net — which is frustrating because the effort deserved more.”
On first-half performance
“We were guilty of overplaying in the first half and that caused us problems.”
“At times the distance between our back line and midfield was too big, and there was a reluctance to run in behind and play forward.”
On team identity
“Every team has to be something, and if we want to stay top of the league, teams need to know that if they come after us, we’ll run in behind and put them under pressure.”
“You earn the right to play football by being brave, running forward and stressing the opposition’s back line.”
On performance with ten men
“Once we went down to ten men, there were no complaints — the players were terrific and gave me everything I expect from them.”
“For long spells, I thought we were comfortable, which makes the goal even more annoying.”
On squad depth and the derby
“A red card doesn’t just affect the game you’re in — it puts extra strain on the squad, especially with a derby coming up.”
“We’re hopeful of having a few players back available and getting them ready to start games, not just come on for cameos.”
Callum McFadden 