St Johnstone 3-0 Hamilton Academical

Graham Cummins (29) headed St Johnstone in front after a goalless first half

Graham Cummings scored twice as St Johnstone moved level on points with fourth-placed Hearts by beating Hamilton Accies.

Hamilton's Ali Crawford passed up a golden opportunity when he fired over when played through by Alex D'Acol.

That miss proved costly when Danny Swanson's corner was headed into the net by Cummins.

Cummins tapped in Blair Alston's low ball before Murray Davidson headed in Brian Easton's cross.

Crawford Calamity

It was symbolic of the nature of this game that one of its most refined figures mislaid his composure. Crawford tends to be at the heart of Hamilton's best work, but this was a game that left him grimacing in frustration.

He swept a first-half free kick onto the roof of the net, but it was after the interval that he truly stood out. Sent clear through on goal by D'Acol, the midfielder sliced his shot wide from inside the area.

Hamilton manager Martin Canning stood with his head in his hands. There had been other occasions for regret, with Darian MacKinnon's shot from 20 yards beaten away early on and Craig Watson failing to hit the target from 16 yards out just before half-time. The worst was yet to come, though.

Hamilton manager Martin Canning saw his side go 12 league games without a win

Cummins uses his head

St Johnstone were always at their most threatening when the ball was in the air, either through Cummins and Steven MacLean in open play or through Steven Anderson and Joe Shaughnessy at set-pieces.

Moments after Crawford's miss, St Johnstone worked the ball up field and earned a corner that Swanson swung into the penalty area. Despite plenty of practise during the game, the Hamilton defenders weren't able to cope with this delivery, and Cummins leapt to head the ball past the goalkeeper Gary Woods.

Cummins was not finished, and five minutes later he was on hand to convert Alston's cross to further reward St Johnstone's dogged display. Sometimes, a win just has to be ground out, and the home side completed their scoring when Davidson's header from Easton's cross bounced off the post and rolled behind the goal-line.

Seaborne's lucky escape

This was a game that lacked drama and intensity, and even a moment of controversy failed to assert itself. When the Hamilton defender Dan Seaborne slid to stop the ball from going out for a corner, he appeared to handle it twice.

Yet none of the St Johnstone players in attendance, or any of the match officials, spotted the contact, so no penalty claim was made. Relief for Seaborne, and little consequence in the end since St Johnstone went on to win the game.

It was that kind of day for the visitors. Once St Johnstone had established their lead, Crawford sent one free-kick straight at home goalkeeper Zander Clark, then another just wide of the upright.

St Johnstone's Steven MacLean (left) with Craig Watson

Post-match reaction

St Johnstone manager Tommy Wright: "We'll play better and lose, but we got the job done. We upped the tempo in the second half and looked more like ourselves. It was a comfortable win but not a comfortable game.

"[Finishing in the top four] will be the aim. We're level with Hearts now, so we've got to see if we can finish off the season better than them.

"We've tried [to make new signings], but we're in a strong position in the league and the main concern is targeting for next season and keeping ones here. There might be something happens, the chairman does like a last-minute one, and if someone comes out who we think is better than what we've got then we'll do some business. I'm more than comfortable to go with what I've got for the rest of the season."

Hamilton manager Martin Canning: "I've talked about key moments before and there's none more key than [Ali Crawford's miss at 0-0]. When you're through one-on-one, you've got to put the ball in the back of the net. Had we gone 1-0 up, it would have been a deserved lead, we were the better team up until that point.

"We are playing well, and we played particularly well at times today, but we've got to win games. It doesn't matter how we win, we need to become a different team, maybe not so pleasing in terms of knocking the ball about.

"Hopefully we can get one [player] in before Tuesday. It's not easy and we're trying hard to bring players in. We've got a bad run of injuries just now as well, five or six guys out who would be starting or coming on to have an influence. We're stretched, but that doesn't excuse defending like that."