Hearts travelled to Perth full of confidence after beating Rangers 2-1 last weekend. The home side would also be in good spirits as well after a dominating second half display against Celtic in midweek.
Chris Kane's desire to win the ball during a tussle with John Souttar in the 17th minute allowed Ali McCann to pick the ball up, he drove into the box and found Stevie May with a perfectly weighted cut back, that allowed the striker to roll a shot into the far corner of Joel Pereira's net. The hosts had the lead against the run of play.
Hearts finally created a had a good chance when Liam Boyce flicked on a long ball into the path of Euan Henderson, he slid a ball in behind and found Steven Naismith, who would have been clean through if it wasn't for a great recovery tackle that was perfectly timed from Jason Kerr.
The visitors found themselves a way back into the game in the 26th minute, when Naismith whipped in a cross following a short corner, it was met by Kerr, but he could only clear it as far as Henderson, who played a lovely pass in behind Kane who had pushed up too quickly. The pass found Tony Sibbock, who drilled in a low cross along the six yard line that Boyce beat Jamie McCart to slide home, the equaliser.
Hearts continued to be in the ascendancy, they got a free-kick 30-yards out, Andrew Irving floated it into the box, it should have been easily dealt with by Zander Clark, but the keeper failed to clear the ball, instead allowing in to simply bounce off him, into an area of danger, John Souttar done excellently to turn the ball goalwards with an overhead kick that Naismith was able to bundle across the line, as the Jambo's took the lead just over a third through the game.
Saints almost had an instant response when Liam Craig sent a long header towards the box, that was flicked on by McCann, into the path of Kane, who puts his shot straight at Pereira in the Hearts goal, the rebound fell to Anthony Ralston on the edge of the box who put the follow up effort wide of the post.
As the second half started, Saints took control of the game, David Wotherspoon took a quick free-kick that had Stevie May running down the far side-line. His cross come shot was pushed away by Pereira, just in the nick of time as Michael O'Halloran was hovering at the back post.
It was Wotherspoon's turn to create as he nutmegged Boyce on the touch line, dropped Sibbick in the box, worked the ball onto his right foot, and curled his shot just past the post.
Saints finally found the equaliser when Callum Booth picked up the ball deep in his half and played it down the line to Wotherspoon who's reverse ball found Craig, his first time ball in behind the defense found May, he checked his run, and cut the ball back to McCann on the edge of the box, he unleashed a shot that evaded Pereira's dive and found the bottom corner in the 52nd minute.
The home side continued to dominate as Craig played another ball over the top, this one found Wotherspoon, the Canadian got to the ball just before it trickled out of play, his cross found O'Halloran, who scuffed the volley and it bounced nicely for Pereira to catch.
Craig's long balls were continuing to cause problems. The next one caused a mix up at the back between Souttar and Pereira as none of them cleared the ball, this allowed Kane to capitalise and prod the ball goal-wards. Unfortunately for the home fans the ball bounced wide and the scoreline remained unaffected.
The bombardment of long balls continued, this time Kane controlled well and sent O'Halloran off in a chase with Aidy White. The 3-time Saintee had the pace to get to the ball first and even more to leave the 28 year-old in his wake. He cut the ball back to the onrushing full-back Ralston, the Celtic loanee, took a touch and volleyed the ball as it sat up nicely for him, his shot rattled the crossbar as it went over.
Saints were pressing for a third goal, and they would finally get a good chance when Craig's free kick was whipped into a dangerous area at the back post. Kerr and Craig Halkett got into a tussle with the Saints captain ending up on the deck, referee Greg Aitken had no hesitation before pointing to the spot. Stevie May stepped up to take it, and smashed it down the middle giving the Saints the lead that they deserved with 28 minutes left to play.
The home side could have killed off the game when a Wotherspoon free-kick found new signing McCart, six yards out, but he couldn't get any purchase on the header and it dropped straight into the arms of Pereira.
Another chance came for the home side when McCann blocked a pass by Irving, this gave May a chase with Souttar. The defender got there first, but the ball broke to Kane who shot right down the throat of Pereira from 25 yards out, he could only parry to effort into the path of McCann, the young midfielder tried to lob it over the keeper, but he could only find the roof of the net.
The away team finally created a chance when White's throw in found Uche Ikpeazu, a nice touch and turn got the Englishman away from three Saints players, his cutback into the box found fellow substitute Donis Avdijaj, who failed to get a shot away before being smothered by Clark in the home goal.
The game almost had a spectacular ending when McCart intercepted a Avdijaj pass and found May with a long ball, the Scot spotted Pereira off his line, and rifled a shot from 45 yards, the Portuguese shot stopper had to get a strong hand to the effort to prevent in finding the net.
The game would get a spectacular ending however, in injury time Naismith launched the ball forward, the ball broke to Sean Clare, he headed it onto the chest of Boyce, who took a poor touch, but Clare was there to pounce and volleyed home a spectacular daisy-cutter effort from 25 yards out to salvage a point for Daniel Stendel's men.
The result takes Hearts off the bottom of the table, with a chance to move further towards safety as they play Kilmarnock at Tynecastle on Wednesday night, although the Ayrshire men ended a horrible run of form with a 3-1 win over Ross County today.
St. Johnstone: Zander Clark; Liam Gordon (Michael O'Halloran 42'), Jason Kerr, Jamie McCart; Anthony Ralston, Ali McCann, Liam Craig, David Wotherspoon, Scott Tanser (Callum Booth 45'); Stevie May (Matt Butcher 90'), Chris Kane.
Scorers: Stevie May 17', 62' pen, Ali McCann 52'
Hearts: Joel Pereira, Sean Clare, John Souttar, Craig Halkett, Aidy White; Toby Sibbick (Conor Washington 71'), Andrew Irving, Ryotaro Meshino (Uche Ikpeazu 60'), Steven Naismith, Euan Henderson (Donis Avdijaj 80'); Liam Boyce.
Scorers: Liam Boyce 26', Steven Naismith 31', Sean Clare 90+1'
MOTM: Stevie May
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