Head to Head: Saints v Hearts
First Team

Head to Head: Saints v Hearts

29th November 2018

Saturday 1 December 2018

Saints and Hearts will meet at McDiarmid Park on Wednesday night in what will be the 162nd meeting between the two sides.

Tommy Wright and his players go into the match on a six match unbeaten run while Craig Levein's men come into the game on the back of three consecutive league defeats.

Hearts defeated Saints at Tynecastle earlier this season 2-1 and the match will also see former striker Steven MacLean return to McDiarmid Park for the first time since he left to join the Jambos.


HISTORY

In the 161 previous meetings between the sides it's the Edinburgh side who come out on top in the head to head with 76 wins to Saints' 44. On the other 41 occassions the fixture has ended in a stalemate.

At McDiarmid Park though, Saints have 10 victories to Hearts' 9 with 11 draws between the sides.

The first time Saints and Hearts met in a competitive fixture was back in 1908 when the Jambos ran out 4-1 winners at Tynecastle. It was a Scottish Cup tie with Hearts playing in the First Division at the time while Saints competed in the Northern League.

The pitch at Tynecastle was heavy with a pre-match downpour of sleet and hailstones making it a difficult playing surface.

Saints' defence stood up well to Hearts early pressure though and fantastic goalkeeping by Noble MacPherson coupled with dogged defending by Sampson, Thomson and Hannah kept Hearts forwards at bay in the early stages.

However, the deadlock was broken by the homeside after 30 minutes and goals from Reynolds and Thomson gave Hearts a 2 - 0 lead at half-time.

Saints pulled one back after the break through John Cameron and despite piling on the pressure the visitors would concede a further two goals as the game finished 4-1 to Hearts.

The first league match between the sides was at Muirton Park in 1925 which Saints won 4-3.

Some 10,000 supporters watched on as a Johnny Hart double plus goals from Tommy Glancy and Dan Thomson gave Saints the win.

Back in 1982/83 Saints and Hearts battled it out for promotion to the Premier Division. In the end, Saints pipped the Tynecastle outfit to top spot by a single point as Alex Rennie led the club to the top flight.

One of the defining games of that campaign was a 2-1 win for Saints at Muirton Park on April 9th 1983. Jim Morton and Raymond Blair scored for the home side with Dave Bowman on the scoresheet for the visitors.


TOMMY WRIGHT RECORD

Since Tommy Wright was appointed as manager, the club has a positive head to head record against Hearts.

In 14 league meetings, Tommy and his side have emerged victorious on six occasions, with four defeats and four draws.

Four of those six victories have come at McDiarmid Park, with Saints losing just once and drawing four times at home to Hearts under Tommy Wright.

Up until last season Saints' record against Hearts looked very strong but three defeats at Tynecastle and a home draw meant that the club failed to register a victory against Wednesday's visitors throughout the 2017/18 campaign.

Saints will be hoping to pick up their first win against Hearts since May 2017 when Chris Kane's goal was enough to secure a 1-0 victory at McDiarmid Park.


Wednesday night's match is a 7:45PM kick-off at McDiarmid Park. The referee is Andrew Dallas.

Back to News
Share on Social