Hearts win with ten men again after beating St Mirren to retain six-point lead

Hearts overcame Beni Baningime’s early red card to pull off a stunning 2-0 win over St Mirren and restore their six-point cushion at the top of the William Hill Premiership.

The midfielder was dismissed for a rash, studs-up challenge on Roland Idowu after just 15 minutes with the match still goalless, sucking the life out of a pumped-up Tynecastle crowd and leaving the Jambos up against it.

But – as they had done when digging out a 1-0 win with 10 men away to Dundee on Sunday – the buoyant league leaders found a way to eke out a potentially huge victory courtesy of second-half goals from captain Lawrence Shankland and substitute Tomas Magnusson.

Derek McInnes’ side are now six points clear of both Rangers and Celtic, who they host in their next league match a week on Sunday.

The Hearts boss made four changes to the side that started Sunday’s victory at Dundee, including handing Scotland goalkeeper Craig Gordon his first start of the season in place of the suspended Alexander Schwolow.

There were three changes to the Saints side that started Saturday’s home defeat by Falkirk, with Oisin Smyth pitched straight in after being recalled from his loan at Partick.

Hearts appeared comfortable in the opening stages until Stuart Findlay’s loose pass put Baningime in trouble just outside the Hearts box and the midfielder lunged into a reckless challenge on Idowu. The midfielder was initially yellow carded before it was upgraded to a red after referee Kevin Clancy was asked to go to the monitor.

Hearts seemed spooked initially after this unforeseen setback and they were relieved to see a brilliant curling effort by Idowu from the angle of the box ruled out for offside in the 21st minute.

The hosts soon started to regain their composure, however, and Claudio Braga had two good chances within a minute, firstly sliding Harry Milne’s cross just wide at the near post before blazing over after getting in behind the Buddies’ defence.

St Mirren striker Mikael Mandron tested Gordon with a low shot from 20 yards and then Idowu had another effort ruled out for offside on the half hour after he ran on to Alex Gogic’s pass and slotted home at the second attempt.

Hearts should have gone ahead just before the break when Alexandros Kyziridis dispossessed Smyth and bore down on goal, but goalkeeper George made a vital save before denying Braga from the rebound.

The leaders started the second half strongly and Kyziridis blasted over from wide on the right before Shankland was denied by George after getting on the end of Braga’s low delivery from the left.

The 10 men, sensing an opportunity to pull off a huge victory in the title race, got themselves in front on the hour when Blair Spittal got down the right and sent a low delivery across the box for Shankland to prod beyond George, sparking delirious scenes inside a ramped-up Tynecastle.

Just as Saints were starting to crank up the pressure, Hearts got themselves up the pitch and scored a second in the 80th minute when substitute Magnusson followed up to nod gleefully into an empty net after Milne’s shot had been parried by George.