Premiership: Reaction as 10-man Hearts beat Well in thriller

Summary

FT: Hearts 3-2 Motherwell - Grant red carded before Halliday strikes either side of half-time; Moult then levels from spot before Spittal equalises; Shankland then slots in penalty
Hearts move up to fourth as Motherwell stay ninth
FT: St Johnstone 2-1 Rangers - Brown & Clark cancel out late Tavernier strike as visitors sit seven points off Celtic in title race

Live Reporting

Thomas Duncan

LINE-UPS from Tynecastle Parkpublished at 14:43 Greenwich Mean Time 6 November 2022
Heart of Midlothian v Motherwell (15:00)
Image source, BBC Sport
Heart of Midlothian: Gordon, M Smith, Sibbick, Cochrane, Grant, Devlin, Halliday, Snodgrass, McKay, Ginnelly, Shankland.
Substitutes: Clark, Kiomourtzoglou, Atkinson, Rowles, Forrest, Neilson, Henderson, C Smith, Pollock.
Motherwell: Kelly, McGinn, Solholm, Lamie, Penney, Goss, Slattery, Spittal, McKinstry, Shields, Van Veen.
Substitutes: Oxbourgh, O'Donnell, Mugabi, Maguire, Cornelius, Moult, Morris, Tierney, Miller.
Image source, BBC Sport
Postpublished at 14:41 Greenwich Mean Time 6 November 2022
Right, it's time to switch our focus to the 15:00 kick-off at Tynecastle, as Hearts host Motherwell.
First up, team news...
'Big conversations to be had'published at 14:38 Greenwich Mean Time 6 November 2022
FT: St Johnstone 2-1 Rangers
Stephen Craigan
Former Motherwell defender on BBC Sportsound
Quote Message
Big conversations are going to have to be had over the World Cup break. Celtic, at this point, are going to win the title. I can't see Rangers, on current form, putting up any kind of resistance for the rest of the season.
Postpublished at 14:36 Greenwich Mean Time 6 November 2022
FT: St Johnstone 2-1 Rangers
Craig Levein
Former Hearts manager on BBC Sportsound
Quote Message
If Hearts or St Mirren beat Rangers, it gets so much worse. If you're the owner of a football club, and you need time to find another manager, it seems the World Cup break is a good time to do it.
Postpublished at 14:34 Greenwich Mean Time 6 November 2022
FT: St Johnstone 2-1 Rangers
Rangers' directors Andrew Dickson, Ross Wilson, Stewart Roberston and Graeme Park were at McDiarmid Park today.
They have some thinking to do, you suspect.
Image source, SNS
Blunt Rangerspublished at 14:31 Greenwich Mean Time 6 November 2022
FT: St Johnstone 2-1 Rangers
Rangers racked up 29 shots today with just seven, including James Tavernier's goal, finding the target.
Image source, Opta
'Frustrated van Bronckhorst'published at 14:28 Greenwich Mean Time 6 November 2022
FT: St Johnstone 2-1 Rangers
Neil McCann
Former Rangers winger on BBC Sportsound
Quote Message
I was watching van Bronckhorst's body language and he cut a frustrated figure. To fall seven points behind Celtic is a real concern.
'Not acceptable' - van Bronckhorstpublished at 14:25 Greenwich Mean Time 6 November 2022
FT: St Johnstone 2-1 Rangers
Rangers manager Giovanni van Bronckhorst tells Sportsound: "Disappointment, obviously. If you don't take any points, you're obviously disappointed. That's my main feeling.
"We started the game really well. We started on the front foot and created so many chances in the first 30 minutes but weren't clinical enough to score the first goal. Instead, we conceded and that made it harder.
"In the second half, we tried to get the goal as quickly as possible. Mentally, their second goal was a knock. We had the chance to kill games off in the first 30 minutes, we didn't do that and it cost us the game.
"I'm happy with the first 30 minutes. The second goal, conceding from a throw in, is unacceptable. We didn't have many clear chances because they defended deep and they are very strong in that.
"Losing three points is always damaging, no matter which stage of the season it is. In our last three games, we've dropped five points and that's not acceptable for a club like Rangers."
Image source, SNS
Rangers in a rutpublished at 14:23 Greenwich Mean Time 6 November 2022
FT: St Johnstone 2-1 Rangers
Only Dundee United and Celtic had beaten Rangers in the Premiership in the last two full seasons, and the start of this one.
Despite that, the signs have been there in recent weeks that a result like this might be in the post.
Can Giovanni van Bronckhorst turn it around?
Postpublished at 14:21 Greenwich Mean Time 6 November 2022
FT: St Johnstone 2-1 Rangers
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'It shows what we can do' - Davidsonpublished at 14:19 Greenwich Mean Time 6 November 2022
FT: St Johnstone 2-1 Rangers
St Johnstone manager Callum Davidson tells BBC Sportsound: "I thought we gave away the ball too much in the first half. James comes up and scores a fantastic goal. Second half, when we start to pass the ball, you can see we're a decent team.
"For us, it's about where we finish in the league. Today, we saw the team spirit. In the second half, we had a little bit more control of the ball. We knew how Rangers were going to come at us and we knew we had to defend.
"It shows what we can do as a squad. It stands us in good stead, and we need to carry it on to Wednesday night.
"I've never seen James hit the target before, so I was surprised when it hit the back of the net! [Goalkeeper] Elliot Parish was outstanding too.
"It's a whole new group, you can see things starting to gel together. it's a lot of hard work. There's no point beating Rangers if you don't get a result on Wednesday night, so we can focus on that."
Image source, SNS
Hit it!published at 14:15 Greenwich Mean Time 6 November 2022
FT: St Johnstone 2-1 Rangers
James Brown's stunning opener got things going for St Johnstone after they were pinned back for most of the first half.
What a way to score your first career goal.
Image source, SNS
How it stands...published at 14:11 Greenwich Mean Time 6 November 2022
FT: St Johnstone 2-1 Rangers
Hearts and Motherwell could overtake them later, but right now St Johnstone are up to fifth.
What a transformation from last season for Callum Davidson's side.
Rangers are now just as close to Aberdeen in third than Celtic in first.
Image source, BBC Sport
Savvy Saintspublished at 14:07 Greenwich Mean Time 6 November 2022
FT: St Johnstone 2-1 Rangers
St Johnstone had just 27% of possession, and had 40 fewer touches in the box than Rangers, but Callum Davidson's side made their chances count.
Rangers fired in 51 crosses throughout the game, but the excellent Saints defence had the answer at every turn.
'Massive' resultpublished at 14:04 Greenwich Mean Time 6 November 2022
FT: St Johnstone 2-1 Rangers
St Johnston wing-back James Brown has been speaking to Sky Sports.
"It's massive," he said. "We're coming off two good results and felt we had every chance. Credit to the boys, I know they came back into it but I thought we had chances to maybe score a couple more."
On his goal..."It just dropped and I thought, why not? I just struck it and it went into the top corner."
Outstanding Maypublished at 13:59 Greenwich Mean Time 6 November 2022
FT: St Johnstone 2-1 Rangers
Stevie May was outstanding for St Johnstone.
The man was everywhere, and was involved in both goals. His cross for Nicky Clark's goal in particular was excellent.
Image source, Opta
Image caption,
Stevie May's heatmap against Rangers
'Saints deserved win'published at 13:56 Greenwich Mean Time 6 November 2022
FT: St Johnstone 2-1 Rangers
Craig Levein
Former Hearts manager on BBC Sportsound
Quote Message
St Johnstone deserved it for the way they defended. The back three were absolutely magnificent. Rangers just weren't good enough to win the game.
FULL-TIME - St Johnstone 2-1 Rangerspublished at 13:51 Greenwich Mean Time 6 November 2022
Three wins in a row for St Johnstone. A first win over Rangers at McDiarmid Park since 2010.
What a performance. Rangers stay seven points behind Celtic.
Image source, SNS
Postpublished at 90 + 3 mins
St Johnstone 2-1 Rangers
Rangers have entered the last chance saloon...
They have a corner.
Postpublished at 90 + 2 mins
St Johnstone 2-1 Rangers
Some Rangers fans are already heading out of McDiarmid Park. They don't see an equaliser coming.
But it's not done yet...
Daniel Phillips wins a free kick for St Johnstone.