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Heart of Midlothian's form across the past 10 games. The latest 'W' came on Wednesday night in Perth as Lawrence Shankland was once more the difference, notching his 22nd goal of the season, 50th for the club and sixth match-winning strike of the league campaign.
The 1-0 win over St Johnstone ensures Hearts stay 12 points ahead of the chasing pack of Kilmarnock and St Mirren, while Hibs and Aberdeen continue to fall further behind.
READ MORE: The Hearts juggernaut continues: Shankland half-century and points target
"The first goal in the game was always going to be massive and after that, we controlled the game," Steven Naismith said afterward.
The first goal being massive is always the case in football. But even more so in last night's encounter. It was tight, tense, and as James Cairney said in the instant analysis, a drawn-out battle, one where both sides were trying to grind each other down, and it looked to be heading towards stalemate."
It was reflected in the match stats. While there were 19 efforts, only five were on target and the team's amassed an xG of 1.15 between them. There were few high-quality chances.
Match momentum
The lack of excitement in the first half can be viewed through the prism of the race chart. Neither team got their line far enough away from the bottom, which indicates zero xG, in the first half. The higher it is the better the chances created.
We can see there are two of three long spells where nothing happened in front of goal. For anyone at McDiarmid Park or watching at home seeing that will not be a surprise.
A quietly ruthless Shankland
It just so happened that the best chance of the game fell to Lawrence Shankland, the best striker in the league. Our words but also the words of Steven Naismith.
However, saying the chance fell to him is doing him a massive disservice. He had to use his body expertly to shape away from Andy Considine and Ryan McGowan, neither of whom will be getting asked to be a Gladiator for the Gauntlet. He then had the presence of mind to stab the ball into his path and then place it past Dimitar Mitov.
That is what Shankland has been so effective at, turning nothing into everything. Frankie Kent's long pass was molded and finessed into a chance that had a value of 0.35. It was 3.5 times better than any other opportunity during the game and 0.03 better than the rest of the team's efforts combined.
There was quite the contrast to the Dundee game for Shankland. At Dens Park he had eight shots and 17 touches in the box. In Perth, there was just one effort - the goal - and only four touches in the box. There has only been one other league game where he has recorded one shot, the win at Celtic Park when he scored with a header.
For context, he averages 3.13 shots per 90 minutes and 7.82 touches in the opposition box.
That, however, wasn't his only match-winning contribution. He headed one off the line in the second half from Nicky Clark. He made a wee note of it on Instagram, when replying to Zander Clark, saying he is up to four goal-line clearances.
A man doing the business at both ends!
READ MORE: Steven Naismith Q&A: Hearts form, 'best striker in the league', Devlin return
Defensively sound
When speaking about Lawrence Shankland, Naismith was keen to point out the work the team does as a group. It is important because the men behind the club's No.9 provide him with the platform to be such a lethal striker.
St Johnstone recorded the second-lowest xG against Hearts in the league this season with 0.48 (Livingston at Tynecastle was the lowest at 0.22). The only effort that really troubled the Hearts goal was the aforementioned Clark header.
After giving up two goals to Dundee twice and Ross County in recent weeks that defensive solidity is always welcome. Hearts know when they get in front they can hold on and see a game out. The team have won 83 per cent of games they've got ahead in.
Once again, Frankie Kent and Stephen Kingsley have to be praised. The former had a couple of dicey moments up against Benjamin Kimpioka in the first half but was, over the piece, dominant. He won a staggering 91 per cent of his aerial duels with 10. Kingsley is becoming the perfect foil for him in Kye Rowles' absence and it is getting to the point where the Aussie may well struggle to get back into the team.
System, shape and style
What can we tell from the average position and pass network?
Firstly, Hearts were more advanced with only the two centre-backs having their average position in their own half. There are two issues at play. The lack of connection with Shankland. The line between players indicates a minimum of four passes while the thicker the line and bigger the circle indicates a greater frequency of passes. Unfortunately for Hearts, a lot of the midfielders and forwards have smaller circles. For context, against Dundee at the weekend, three players had lines towards Shankland. It was just one of those games. A typical midweek in Perth.
READ MORE: Craig Levein: Hearts are by far the third-best team in Scotland
As for St Johnstone, it is no surprise to see Graham Carey with the biggest circle with all play going through him. We can see how deep their set-up was, ensuring they didn't leave space for Hearts to exploit. That is reflected in their pressure map. They didn't want to engage with Hearts high up the park.
It was, as Naismith said, a deserved win for Hearts in the end. It might not have been pretty or exciting but it was a victory brought about by a defensive rigidity, determination and the best striker in the league.
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