Hearts overcame Beni Baningim’s early red card to beat St Mirren 2-0 and restore a six-point advantage at the top of the William Hill Premier League.

The midfielder was sent off after just 15 minutes for a rash challenge on Roland Idowu with the game still scoreless, depriving the Tynecastle fans of their energy and leaving the Jambos side in trouble.

But, as they did in Sunday’s 1-0 win away to Dundee with 10 men, the spirited league leaders found a way to seal a potentially huge victory with second-half goals from captain Laurence Shankland and substitute Thomas Magnussen.

Derek McInnes’ side are now six points ahead of Rangers and Celtic, who they host at home in their next league game on Sunday.

The Hearts boss made four changes to his starting line-up for Sunday’s win over Dundee, including giving Scotland goalkeeper Craig Gordon his first start of the season in place of the suspended Alexander Schwallow.

Saints made three changes from Saturday’s home defeat to Falkirk, with Oisin Smith coming straight on after returning from a loan spell at Partick.

Hearts were comfortable in the opening stages until Stuart Findley’s loose pass put Baningim in trouble just outside the Hearts penalty area and the midfielder launched a reckless challenge on Idowu. The midfielder was initially shown a yellow card but it was upgraded to a red card after referee Kevin Clancy was asked to look at the monitor.

Hearts initially looked scared after the unforeseen setback but were relieved to see Idowu’s beautiful curling strike from an angle in the box ruled out for offside in the 21st minute.

However, the home side soon began to regain their composure and Claudio Braga had two good chances in the space of a minute, first sliding in Harry Milne’s cross at the near post and then firing home after getting into the partnership’s defence.

Hearts should have taken the lead just before the break when Alexandros Kyziridis robbed Smith and headed straight for goal, but goalkeeper George made a vital save before stopping Braga from grabbing the rebound.

The leaders made a strong start to the second half, with Kyziridis shooting from the right and Shankland being blocked by George after receiving a low shot from Braga from the left.

The Ten men sensed a chance of a huge victory in the title race just inside the hour mark when Blair Spittal sent a low pass from the right through the box for Shankland to get past George, sparking wild scenes inside Tynecastle’s Tynecastle Stadium.

Hearts came on and scored their second goal in the 80th minute just as Saints were beginning to ramp up the pressure, substitute Magnussen nodding happily into an empty net after Milne’s shot was blocked by George.

‘We dug Benny out of the hole – he was in tears’

Derek McInnes told Sky Sports:

“We dug Benny out of the hole tonight, guys. We talked about it at halftime. The boy was in tears.

“When we need to perform well, we do it. We just have to keep going.

“We still have a long way to go and a lot of points left, but we are in a good position. There are no two ways about it.”

“We beat the teams around us. We haven’t lost to those teams yet. I think we’re building a lot of confidence, but we know every game is a challenge.

“Coming from Dundee, Livingston, Rangers, every team we’ve played in this league. I’ve said it many times, we’re not exactly better than everyone else, but we’ve got something special going on here.”

McInnes believes Matto will be a Hearts player

McGinnis confident Rogers Matto Vardar is set to sign with Hearts despite mixed messages from his current club FK Vardar, who claim they have agreed to sell the player to Sporting Kansas City.

Less than 24 hours later red heart Pre-contract agreement announced for signing of Ugandan international Mattohis club Vardar Football Club Claiming they had agreed to sell the player to an MLS club.

Scottish Premiership leaders Hearts confirmed on Tuesday that the striker will move to Tynecastle Park in the summer after his contract with the North Macedonian club expires.

However, on Wednesday, Vardar announced they had accepted a $1 million offer from Major League Soccer, a document they claimed proved the deal was legal.

“He’s already signed a pre-contract,” McGinnis told sky sports.

“The boy was eager to come. I thought he was probably under a lot of pressure to probably go somewhere else, but he kept his word. I loved the conversation I had with the boy a few weeks ago.

“This is something we’ve been targeting with him for a while.

“We’re happy to have him with us and happy that he’s shown us that commitment. The rest I really don’t know because we can only deal with what we have to deal with at Hearts.”

Asked if he hoped to join in January, he said: “Of course that’s my hope. I don’t know if that’s possible.”

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