Hearts twice came from behind and had a potential late winner disallowed as their Scottish Premiership lead was cut to six points after an epic draw at St Mirren.

The talk has been of the Tynecastle side's title credentials after their win over Celtic on Sunday. But could they back up that win with another here on a more mundane midweek occasion?

Derek McInnes' side started strongly, and almost took the lead when Beni Baningime curled a shot against a post.

However, it was St Mirren - who had lost their last three - who hit the front when Dan Nlundulu executed a magical overhead kick past Alexander Schwolow.

That lead only lasted six minutes, after St Mirren failed to properly deal with a cross. A heavy touch from Keanu Baccus fell to Lawrence Shankland and the Hearts captain scored his ninth goal of the season from close range.

Shankland had another great chance at the start of the second half after being given the freedom of the St Mirren box, but from a tight angle he was denied by goalkeeper Shamal George.

That sparked a St Mirren onslaught and, from a corner, the ball fell to Miguel Freckleton, who lashed the hosts back in front.

It looked like Freckleton would bolster that lead shortly after, too. The defender's header from a Killian Phillips free-kick hit a post but he followed in to stab home the loose ball.

However it was ruled out after a VAR intervention, with referee Matthew MacDermid determining that Mark O'Hara was in an offside position and had impacted the play by impeding Shankland.

The St Mirren dismay was palpable and was compounded soon after when Alexandros Kyziridis' curling attempt was tipped on to the bar and Claudio Braga was there to head home his ninth of the campaign so far.

With two minutes left to play Hearts thought they had won it.

Pierre Landry Kabore hit the back of the net from close range but, following another VAR check, the goal was ruled out for offside.

The big question was, could Hearts follow up their statement win over Celtic?

The general narrative was that Sunday's game had almost taken care of itself, as Hearts could not fail to be up for laying down a marker on the reigning champions.

But could they do it on a cold Wednesday in Paisley? This had not been a happy hunting ground in recent times, just one win from their previous eight visits and a League Cup penalty shoot-out defeat earlier this term.

St Mirren clearly know how to make life uncomfortable for Hearts. They would continually get that ball into the box, causing all sorts of problems.

Time and again the chances came for the home side. Some were squandered, others were taken and VAR – as it so often does – had its controversial say.

But this Hearts side are clearly brimming with belief and were happy to ride their luck as they too continued to make chances in a wonderfully open game.

Their lead has been cut, but it could have been worse.

In the end, both sides could make some kind of argument for deserving three points, which probably makes a share of the points just about right.

St Mirren assistant coach Brian Kerr: "We feel a wee bit hard done by with the decision [to rule out the goal to make it 3-1].

"We're still looking back to see why it's been disallowed. We can't find any contact at all. There might be an angle that shows that, but we're yet to find it.

"It was a massive moment in the game to go 3-1 up at that time. It was a decision that's gone against us and we feel a bit hard done by."

Hearts head coach Derek McInnes: "We're disappointed with the goals we lose, it's the first time we've looked susceptible from set-plays.

"At no point did we accept just one point. It's important we win the game on Saturday now. If we do, this'll be seen as a decent point.

"If anyone told me at the start of the season that after 10 games we'd be six points clear of Celtic, you'd have grabbed that with both hands. That's where we are."

Hearts welcome 11th-place Dundee on Saturday (15:00 GMT), then Dundee United eight days later, and could amass six more points before Celtic next play.

St Mirren's attention turns to Saturday's League Cup semi-final against Motherwell at Hampden (17:30) before welcoming Hibernian the following week (17:45).