St Mirren v Heart of Midlothian Scottish Cup Fifth Round 10/2/25

[Saint@Johnstone]

1 hour ago, portmahomack saint said:

Actually thought we we're unlucky last night the game plan worked we stopped Hearts from playing they created nothing really we just ran out of steam.. A second goal would have killed it.. I don't think Olusanya had a shot on target all game 

We were the better team right up to the equaliser. Hearts do not look any great shakes but when you add in errors by Taylor and woeful finishing by Olusanya, we always get found out. Best last night were the goalie(penalties aside), and Gogic. Several players looked out on their feet before 90 minutes and should have been replaced. Hearts changed half their team by that time. Home form is very alarming these days, has to change pronto. 

[exiledfan]

I thought we played well first half, however if you can't score more than one you have a problem. I thought we looked a lot more balanced with Alebiosiu giving more on attack. 

Problem at the moment is lack of depth on the bench. No natural replacement for Mandron who played well. One Central midfielder on the bench to see us through extra time.

Mooney coming on did brilliantly but by then everyone around him were dead on their feet. 

We also made one sub on 70 with Elvis then waited till 90 minutes to bring on two others then 92 minutes to bring on Mooney before leaving last two till 110 minutes. 

We needed that bench to have been used about the 70th minute and we could have been fresher before their goal, no idea why Robo didn't at least bring on Symth for CBM and Kiltie possibly for John to give us some extra energy earlier. 

 

 

[portmahomack saint]

38 minutes ago, Saint@Johnstone said:

We were the better team right up to the equaliser. Hearts do not look any great shakes but when you add in errors by Taylor and woeful finishing by Olusanya, we always get found out. Best last night were the goalie(penalties aside), and Gogic. Several players looked out on their feet before 90 minutes and should have been replaced. Hearts changed half their team by that time. Home form is very alarming these days, has to change pronto. 

Replaced by who ? We all saw what happened when we made substitutes it changed nothing. Hearts budget is 4 or 5 times ours they brought on quality players including ones we tried to sign.. 

The signings this year have been poor..  we needed 3 good players at least ready to play in January we got one and he looked a bit lost at times hopefully there's a lot more to come from him...  

The fact we keep losing late goals is not a coincidence we don't have the squad. players all over the park get tired. 

Edited February 11, 2025 by portmahomack saint

[exiledfan]

16 minutes ago, portmahomack saint said:

Replaced by who ? We all saw what happened when we made substitutes it changed nothing. Hearts budget is 4 or 5 times ours they brought on quality players including ones we tried to sign.. 

The signings this year have been poor..  we needed 3 good players at least ready to play in January we got one and he looked a bit lost at times hopefully there's a lot more to come from him...  

The fact we keep losing late goals is not a coincidence we don't have the squad. players all over the park get tired. 

I do wonder if losing Diarmuid O'Carroll has impacted us more than we might think. I believe he was instrumental in a lot of set piece training and he was clearly a talented coach in a very small team.

As well as players in summer we also need a good look at specialist coaches for fitness and set pieces. 

With some big lads in the team we should be making keepers work when we get a corner. 

[Saint@Johnstone]

46 minutes ago, portmahomack saint said:

Replaced by who ? We all saw what happened when we made substitutes it changed nothing. Hearts budget is 4 or 5 times ours they brought on quality players including ones we tried to sign.. 

The signings this year have been poor..  we needed 3 good players at least ready to play in January we got one and he looked a bit lost at times hopefully there's a lot more to come from him...  

The fact we keep losing late goals is not a coincidence we don't have the squad. players all over the park get tired. 

They may have 5 times our budget but are no better than us on that showing. Olusanya , Mandron and Phillips should have been subbed earlier, they were done. Agree the signings have been woeful and we should have chased a few in January. Ayunga being number one.

[portmahomack saint]

53 minutes ago, exiledfan said:

I do wonder if losing Diarmuid O'Carroll has impacted us more than we might think. I believe he was instrumental in a lot of set piece training and he was clearly a talented coach in a very small team.

As well as players in summer we also need a good look at specialist coaches for fitness and set pieces. 

With some big lads in the team we should be making keepers work when we get a corner. 

Thought we did look dangerous at corners but just never capitalised. it looked the only way we'd score. the second ball fell to a few of the players but they always took too many touches instead of just shooting 

[stlucifer]

19 hours ago, DougJamie said:

Are our players fit....they looked shagged out after 65 m.... another real chance blown.... oh well league survival time

Mandron for one gets a pass from me. He worked his socks off so it was no wonder he was knackered. In that first half several of our players were playing a high press. I said at the time Robinson would need to manage the subs. Quite simply. He didn't. I lay the blame solely at the managements door for this defeat. I like Taylor but he was definitely having "one of those nights and should have been replaced by Kenny who couldn't have done much worse. In saying that. IF SR had made better use of the subs Hearts may never have got so close to get the chance. 

[guinness]

Kiltie does not look fit. Looked very sluggish and actually looked tired having only been on for20 minutes. Mandro n and Phillips were both out on their feet  after 70 minutes. Seems to be problems with fitness or the style of play does not suit certain players. Mandro n played very well but had run himself into the ground. 

[party politics]

Thought we played well on the night, (for us) certainly no lack of effort, we just have a mental block about getting over the line. Most likely because we are completely shagged from around the 70th min onwards, due to the way we play.

Top men for me were O'Hara , Zach, Fraser ( spent most of his night covering for Goga and Taylor) and Mandron.

The big man has been so much better the last 4 or 5 games, he is actually starting to look like a proper number 9. (Where has this player been up to recently - is he playing for a new deal?)

On the recruitment I don't think anyone can argue it has been pretty poor recently - we have too many bench and stand fillers, that the manager clearly doesn't trust anymore. Smyth, Scott, Idowu, Ayunga (since injury) Adeniran, possibly Kiltie and CBM could be added also.

A club of our size (and budget) cannot sustain that level of hit or miss rate for any length of time, so the managers next window will be critical to his and the clubs immediate future. I am in no way wanting the manager out, but he and his recruitment man ( forgotten name!) need to get the finger out.

The only 2 players we sold during the window were homegrown and deemed surplus to requirements.🤔

 

 

Edited February 11, 2025 by party politics

[faraway saint]

7 minutes ago, party politics said:

Thought we played well on the night, (for us) certainly no lack of effort, we just have a mental block about getting over the line. Most likely because we are completely shagged from around the 70th min onwards, due to the way we play.

Top men for me were O'Hara , Zach, Fraser ( spent most of his night covering for Goga and Taylor) and Mandron.

The big man has been so much better the last 4 or 5 games, he is actually starting to look like a proper number 9. (Where has this player been up to recently - is he playing for a new deal?)

On the recruitment I don't think anyone can argue it has been pretty poor recently - we have too many bench and stand fillers, that the manager clearly doesn't trust anymore. Smyth, Scott, Idowu, Ayunga (since injury) Adeniran, possibly Kiltie and CBM could be added also.

A club of our size (and budget) cannot sustain that level of hit or miss rate for any length of time, so the managers next window will be critical to his and the clubs immediate future. I am in no way wanting the manager out, but he and his recruitment man ( forgotten name!) need to get the finger out.

The only 2 players we sold during the window were homegrown and deemed surplus to requirements.🤔

 

 

Pretty balanced post amongst the knee jerk reactions since last night. 

Losing the game, funny how the Hearts goal was a massive but of luck isn't mentioned, completely changes the rhetoric. 

There's no doubt, being a results based business, it's been a disappointing period but remember before last night Hearts were a form team and we were the better team overall. 

[exiledfan]

5 hours ago, portmahomack saint said:

Thought we did look dangerous at corners but just never capitalised. it looked the only way we'd score. the second ball fell to a few of the players but they always took too many touches instead of just shooting 

We can't be dangerous if we aren't scoring or making the opposition keeper work. 

[faraway saint]

6 minutes ago, exiledfan said:

We can't be dangerous if we aren't scoring or making the opposition keeper work. 

But we did score and Gordon did have to work. 

[shull]

 

[faraway saint]

Our pitch looks to be a bit of a mess, noticed it a few weeks ago. 

What's changed as the surface was widely recognised as one of the best in the country? 

Has there been a change of the people in charge? 

[Callum Gilhooley]

56 minutes ago, faraway saint said:

Our pitch looks to be a bit of a mess, noticed it a few weeks ago. 

What's changed as the surface was widely recognised as one of the best in the country? 

Has there been a change of the people in charge? 

Strange one. As far as I’m aware the whole pitch was re-seeded close season so very surprised it’s looking as bad as it is.  Tommy Doc is still head groundsman and we have those super-duper make yer grass grow lights at our disposal also.
Possibly a bad batch of seeds from Dobbies  garden centre ? I hope we’ve kept the receipt. 

[faraway saint]

20 minutes ago, Callum Gilhooley said:

Strange one. As far as I’m aware the whole pitch was re-seeded close season so very surprised it’s looking as bad as it is.  Tommy Doc is still head groundsman and we have those super-duper make yer grass grow lights at our disposal also.
Possibly a bad batch of seeds from Dobbies  garden centre ? I hope we’ve kept the receipt. 

Maybe we got the seeds from the Embassy Coupons shop? 😉

[Wilbur]

I had to laugh when I glanced at the "captioning" on Google for the highlights of this match. Up front apparently we had .......

O. Lasagne.