St Johnstone may have lost against St Mirren in the League Cup in midweek but they bounced back against Hearts thanks to two goals form Cillian Sheridan. Manager Derek McInnes believes his new strike force have instilled confidence throughout his team. Saints ended last season with the the lowest number of goals scored in the SPL with just 23 goals in 38 games. Cillian Sheridan scored his first goals since returning to McDiarmid Park on a second loan spell when he raced onto passes from Francisco Sandaza either side of the interval. Sandaza has already scored six goals this season and McInnes believes his new strikers have lifted the whole team.
McInnes said: "The players behind (the strikers), even myself, feel we have got that threat. The first season back in the SPL I think we were third equal highest scorers in the league. There is nothing better when you're on the pitch knowing that there are goals on the team. On the flip side, when you're struggling to score goals, you know if you lose a goal you have to score two and sometimes you can get all tense and apprehensive. We just wanted to play with a bit more instinct and freedom at the top end of the pitch. The two boys we've got in at the minute, and we have brought in a couple of strikers to back them up as well, are certainly doing that. It's great for the team, they can keep doing the donkey work knowing they have two boys up the top who can score goals. We have also had more goals from the middle of the park this season than we did last year at this stage. We're not finding goals hard to come by which, after last season, is very pleasing."
Hearts manager Paulo Sergio was not pleased to see mistakes which handed the incentive to the Perth Saints. Sergio, who took off Andy Webster at half-time, said: "We have maybe more than 60% possession of the ball and the control of the game but that's not enough, you have to score. But I'm sure too if you aren't giving goals to your opponents you are going to have a cool head at the moment you are going to finish. We are putting ourselves under pressure with mistakes."