His last Saints game at St. Mirren Park was when we played Rangers in the Scottish Cup in February and managed agood 0-0 draw - a game we could possibly have won. Sadly, the replay ended 1-0 to Rangers but I can't remember too many complaints from Saints fans about his performance. His other Saints game so far this season was also against Rangers and we lost 2-1 at Ibrox.
For more details on Mr Brines' record with Saints, check out http://www.stmirren-mad.co.uk/roll/ed16/know_the_ref__rangers_home_491366/index.shtml
Surprisingly, this will be Mr Brines' first Hearts game of the season. Last year he did three, one of which was a thrilling 3-2 win over Motherwell. The others were a defeat to Aberdeen, in which the Jambos finished with 10 men, and a loss to Rangers.
The previous season, this official did four Hearts games - one of which was a 1-0 Saints win at Tynecastle. There is also a win and a draw with Aberdeen and a heavy defeat to Celtic at Parkhead. There was only one win in 2006/07 as well, that one coming at Motherwell. The other two matches Mr Brines did were a draw at Inverness Caley Thistle and a defeat at Ibrox.
Things are even worse for Hearts in 2005/06 - the season they finished second in the SPL. With this official, they drew at Falkirk - coming from two goals down after Craig Gordon was dismissed - and Motherwell and lost at Ibrox. They also suffered a controversial 3-2 defeat to Celtic at Tynecastle. They had been 2-0 up then had a man suspiciously sent off, while a Celtic player escaped with a caution for a much worse offence. The season before sees a couple of uneventful draws with Dundee United and Hearts.
2003/04 is Hearts' best season with this official as they won all three of the games he was in charge of, against Kilmarnock, Motherwell and Dundee United. 2002/03 wasn't too bad either as they again beat United and drew with Partick Thistle.
Surprisingly, despite having taken charge of 15 games this season, Mr Brines has shown just one red card so far this term. Will that still be the case come 5pm on Saturday?