While there has been little to write home about in our league form in the last 12 months, what happened at Hampden on March 17 (and also when we played Celtic there in January) will never be forgotten. It was a cracking game and ended with the outcome we'd all dreamed off -bBut the two sides that play tomorrow will be rather different from the ones that served up that fantastic match.
Every Buddie seems to be in a good mood at the moment after Thursday's defeat of Dundee United. It was a great display, we rattled in a few goals, won and wound up the Arabs into the bargain. Hearts, meanwhile, are atrocious. They have lost all five games they've played in December and were gubbed by Kilmarnock during the week. The confidence of their youngsters has taken an absolute hammering and they are still bottom of the table, still on minus points and still miles behind everyone else.
If this was any other team a victory would be a foregone conclusion – but this is St Mirren. This is the sort of situation we usually struggle in. If a team needs a win or a player needs a goal we're usually only too happy to oblige. On Thursday we were the underdogs and benefited from it, tomorrow we'll be favourites and will have huge pressure on us. We cannot take this for granted – we need to go in with the same effort, commitment and passion we displayed against United if we want to avoid a banana skin.
Mind you, we could maybe do without Jim Goodwin showing quite as much effort, commitment and passion. He was very lucky to avoid being sent off against United, Danny Lennon wisely subbing him before half-time. Despite that, it looks as if he's still going to get into trouble from the SFA. Fortunately, that won't be until Monday at the earliest so he'll be able to play tomorrow. Hopefully he can rattle the Hearts youngsters – just slightly less aggressively than he rattled United's!
Ironically, despite the Arab's whining about our aggressive play, it's us who have a number of players struggling with injury. Sean Kelly got swiped by Keith Watson, Marian Kello hurt himself trying to stop Nadir Ciftci's goal and Kenny McLean also suffered a knock. All three are doubtful – although Christopher Dilo can come in for Kello and former Jambo Danny Grainger could start for Kelly. The main problem is if McLean or another midfielder doesn't make it as the only real option is Gary Harkins. Bringing him in seems to disrupt our shape somewhat so hopefully Kenny is fit enough to play.
As the year comes to a close Hearts still have a chance of avoiding automatic relegation, but it is looking pretty difficult. After initially going about their challenge with gusto they have struggled lately, which is to be expected considering the number of youngsters they have. Gary Locke seems to be getting an easy ride in the circumstances, which is understandable, but he has made a few dodgy tactical decisions. Still, his side has beaten Hibs twice, which has cut him a bit of slack, but they're currently 14 points off second bottom and look set to have a difficult start to 2014 as they aim to move into double figures for the first time this season.
Before I look at the youngsters, who I don't know a great deal about, I'll focus on the more familiar members of their squad. I'm still not sure how Hearts managed to push Danny Wilson's permanent transfer through while they were under an embargo, but push it through they did and he has played reasonably well at the back. I also don't understand why Ryan Stevenson returned last year after being rather vocal about the lack of wages he was getting as he surely knew what he was getting himself into, but he is a real threat and scored twice against us in the League Cup Final. Jamie Hamill missed that through injury but is now back fully fit, while with such an inexperienced squad it helps having someone like Jamie MacDonald in goals.
A few of the youngsters are a bit more well known after the last year or so. Calum Paterson broke into the team last season and looked good at the back, so the obvious thing to do was to move him up front. He's scored a few goals but a lot of the time looks like someone who is uncomfortable playing there. Jason Holt was the subject of a bid from Nottingham Forest in the summer which Hearts, in the midst of huge financial problems, obviously decided to turn down. He and winger Jamie Walker have been great in midfield but Holt is out with a broken foot bone. Callum Tapping, who the Jambos acquired after being gubbed by Spurs in the Europa League a few years back, is decent while the various financial problems have finally given Scott Robertson a decent run in the team in the middle of the park.
The rest I'm afraid I don't know much about. Kevin McHattie looks decent at leftback, Jordan McGhee might be a promising central defender along with Brad McKay, while Dylan McGowan isn't yet quite as good as his brother was when he played for Hearts last season. Perhaps the most worrying thing for Hearts, which may explain part of their problems on the park, is the lack of strikers. It's either Paterson or Stevenson up there, with Billy King, David Smith and Dale Carrick not really able to do a job as a lone striker. Of course, why they don't play two strikers is one of the great mysteries - maybe if they'd done that more they'd have got the best out of John Sutton and he'd have agreed to take a paycut in the summer rather than do one to Motherwell.
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