Hearts Trial: Baningime’s Red Card Helps the Team Rescue Their Position with Fewer Players
McInnes’s message throughout the season has been clear: “Judge us after two rounds of fixtures.” Now, this competition has reached that decisive level.
If this is considered “judgment day” for Hearts, then Baningime’s red card contributed in some way to supporting their cause on the path to rescue.
Coming into this encounter, Hearts were the favorites to win, at a time when St Mirren is being pulled toward the abyss, as an injury crisis in midfield stripped the former League Cup champions of their beating heart.
However, the expectation to win is not something that always puts Hearts at ease. The only time the team recorded a dip in form this season, they drew with St Mirren, Dundee United, Motherwell, and Kilmarnock, and lost to a struggling Aberdeen side.
These were all matches—perhaps with the exception of the Motherwell away game—that Hearts aimed to win.
Instead, what characterizes Hearts is their strong performance in Old Firm-caliber matches.
Hearts had not won three consecutive matches against the Glasgow sibling clubs since 1960, and they have collected titles this season.
They are now set for a series of four matches, with the Kelty city match on the horizon.
These confrontations may be what defines the difference, but the victories for Hearts over Dundee and St Mirren show they will not back down.
Twice they were reduced to ten men, but they continued to fight and achieved victory both times.
“They talk about statement results,” as analyst Allan Preston said on Sportsound. “This is the statement result for Hearts. They were down to ten men since the 15th minute and they deserved to win by a larger margin.”
And if there is such a thing as a statement draw, Hearts managed to achieve that as well. They were five goals down against Motherwell in late August, and it seemed McInnes’s bubble would burst. But they came back to end the match in a 3-3 draw.
They could not achieve the same feat against Hibernian in the Edinburgh derby held immediately after Christmas, but they were fortunate to maintain the draw thanks to a magical save by Raphael Salzinger.
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