Heart of Midlothian defeated St Mirren 3-1 in a closed-door friendly match in Spain on Wednesday night.
Sander Kartum opened the scoring after just eight minutes and the men in (all) maroon, didn’t really look back, as Rogers Mato doubled the lead on the half hour mark.
St Mirren pulled one back in the second half, but James Wilson quickly restored the two-goal lead in the searing Spanish sunshine.
With the first real opening of the match, Kartum fired Hearts ahead, firing the ball low into the bottom corner from the edge of the area.
The Jambos were in the ascendency in the early stages and Alexandros Kyziridis was next to go close, Alex Gogic with a brave header to deflect the wingers goalbound effort away from the target.
Wilson was next to go close but could only head wide after a good cross from Harry Milne.
A midfield three of Yan Dhanda, Sander Kartum and Sabri Guendouz was dictating the game for Hearts, and the left-hand side was again a dangerous weapon for Hearts as Kyziridis slipped in Rogers Mato, who was denied by Jacob Chapman.
Mato wasn’t to be denied for long however and he doubled the lead from a corner on the half hour mark. Dhanda’s corner was just over the talkative MJ Kamson-Kamara and the forward ghosted in unmarked to side foot home from the middle of the penalty area.
Jordi Altena enjoyed the first 45 minutes at right back, the highlight an impressive solo run shortly before the break, he carried the ball from midway inside his own half up to the edge of the St Mirren box, where he unselfishly tried to slide in Wilson, when he’d earned the right to a shot at goal.
The final chance of the half fell to Kyziridis and after he and Wilson had done well to force a mistake in the St Mirren backline, but he couldn’t keep his effort down from the edge of the box.
Half-time: St Mirren 0-2 Hearts
The Jambos made ten changes at the break and after a transitional first 10 minutes, resumed control of possession, without creating quite as many openings as in the first period.
St Mirren made a handful of changes themselves on the hour mark and they had a positive impact, as the Buddies came on strong for the next 20 minutes.
Ryan Fulton made a decent stop to deny Chris Mochrie on 66 minutes, but seconds later produced an incredible save to thwart what looked a certain goal on a rebound, after an initial header had come back off the crossbar.
There wasn’t a lot of openings in the second half in truth, but St Mirren pulled one back with 78 minutes on the clock. Thomas Falconer cut in off the left wing and fired low past Ryan Fulton to halve the deficit.
That seemed to wake Hearts up again, and just two minutes later, Calvin Miller skipped away from his man down the left wing and crossed for James Wilson to tap home from close range.
That was the end of the scoring in what was a good first workout for Wouter Vrancken’s Jambos as preparations continue towards the home match against Rayo Vallecano and the Champions League Second Qualifying Round tie with Sturm Graz.
St Mirren: Chapman, Richardson, John, Gogic, Fraser, Carr, Taylor, Ramos, Idowu, Phillips, Young
Subs: Tamosevicius, Urminsky, Hutchison, Falconer, McEvoy, Clark, Trialist, Trialist, Mochrie, Calvin, Douglas, McCormick, Thompson
Hearts: Schwolow, Altena, Milne, Kamson-Kamara, Kingsley (C), Kartum, Mato, Dhanda, Wilson, Guendouz, Kyziridis
2nd half: Fulton, Borch, McEntee, McCart (C), Dhanda ((Kartum, 60 (Wilson, 76)), Renaud, Spittal, Kerjota, McPake, Kabangu
Secure your seat for Wouter Vrancken’s first Tynecastle match here.
