Well, that was much better.

[The Merse]

Pretty good performance by Hearts today.

 

Could have done with getting a few more shots on goal but our general all round play was a vast improvement on most of our performances since the turn of the year.

 

Good to see Jefferies make a few changes as it was clear the team needed freshened up.

 

Craig Thomson was excellent today too.

 

Great to see Driver back and showed he still has it with that great run!

 

Kello - 7 - one of the easiest afternoons he'll have

 

Wallace - 7 - got forward well, took wrong option a couple of times though

 

Zaliukas - 7 - strolled it

 

Bouzid - same as Zal

 

Thomson - 8 - attacked well, crossed brilliantly, good to see him find some form again

 

Palazuelos - 7 - I'm not a fan but he was decent today

 

Black - 7 - got stuck in and played fine

 

Skacel - 8 - best he has played for quite a while

 

Suso - 8 - good to have him back

 

Obua - 6 - won alot in the air but didn't offer much of a threat

 

Glen - 5 - fairly anonymous unfortantely.

[vegas-voss]

Brilliant first have best we have been in ages.2nd half the ref pretty much done his vest to spoil the game and let St Johnsrine back into it.

[Zerothehero]

Obua had a really good game. Gave their defence as hard a time as Kyle did and covered some amount of grass. Palazuelos also had a good game. Passing was excellent as was his defending.

[SPG]

Still can't believe we went out of the cup to them after watching that game as it was quite an easy win today - think the lack of atmosphere for the cup game must have been a big factor in that.

[jambonian]

Still can't believe we went out of the cup to them after watching that game as it was quite an easy win today - think the lack of atmosphere for the cup game must have been a big factor in that.

St Johnstone won that Cup-tie because they're used to playing to an empty stadium, it was as good as a home game for them!

[Le Chat]

Some good football, particularly in the first half today

[leginten]

The result was the thing today. Wednesday could easily have been the start of a slump, but we dug out another three points and should actually have won by more than one goal. It was getting a bit chaotic at the end there, but we're back on track.

[Stuart Lyon]

Palazuelos was immense and I correctly predicted he would get one of the man of the match awards.

[lost in leith]

Bit of a strange game. Hanging on a wee bit at the end, but I made it three times that we could pretty much have walked the ball into the net with a bit more composure. It shows you what fine margins there are in the game these days. Kello had a comfortable save in the last few seconds, but if he'd fumbled the ball into the net this place would have been in meltdown. We are in a strange position now. It's only the end of January, but realistically I can't see us finishing in any position other than 3rd.

 

I think this puts JJ in a great position. If he knows who is going in the summer he can ease them out and give fringe players he thinks can make it game time without huge pressure, particularly some of the younger lads on the fringes.