Johansson snatches point for Saints

Substitute Jonatan Johansson netted his first goal for St Johnstone to help earn a 2-1 success over 10-man Hearts and inflict more misery on Jambos boss Csaba Laszlo.

Christian Nade ended his nine-month goal drought in emphatic style in the first half, but Derek McInnes' side were a different team after the interval and equalised through top scorer Collin Samuel's header.

Referee Stevie O'Reilly then controversially sent off Jose Goncalves with a straight red card and Saints took advantage to claim victory through former Hibernian striker Johansson three minutes from time.

Hearts made a fast start with Gary Glen's early effort from distance held by Graeme Smith. The Perth defence then appeared lucky to get away with an apparent passback after Danny Grainger cushioned the ball to Smith just five yards from goal, but referee O'Reilly was unmoved.

It was 12 minutes before Saints offered a threat but Filipe Morais' angled shot was easy for Janos Balogh. And McInnes felt his team had a decent penalty claim in the 20th minute after Goncalves caught Kenny Deuchar with a boot on the head, but O'Reilly appeared to miss the incident.

Out of the blue, Nade broke the stalemate with a wonderful goal on 35 minutes. The Frenchman unleashed a sweet 25-yard strike that whistled across Smith into the bottom right corner - his first goal since February.

Matters swiftly improved for the McDiarmid Park side when they grabbed the equaliser on the hour. Excellent work from Morais on the left saw him twist past Jason Thomson and plant a cross on the head of Samuel who nodded home for his seventh of the season.

Samuel then came within inches of a second as his searing, angled drive flew across Balogh's goal.

Controversy raged seconds later when Hearts were reduced to 10 men. O'Reilly brandished a straight red card at Goncalves for a high boot challenge on Craig, but the decision looked harsh and Hearts vented their anger.

McInnes' charges sought to use their man advantage and threw on Johansson in search of victory and it proved inspired within seconds. After Obua failed to usher the ball out of play, David Mackay fed Jody Morris whose cross found Liam Craig. His header back across goal then allowed Johansson an easy tap-in to seal victory on 87 minutes.