Wouter Vrancken hails Hearts spirit to hold off St Johnstone fightback

Wouter Vrancken was proud of Hearts for holding firm to see out a 2-1 home win over St Johnstone as he admitted his battle-weary side ran out of steam in the second half.The Jambos – buoyed by their midweek Conference League play-off triumph away to Rapid Vienna – were good value for their two-goal lead after James Wilson’s early strike was followed by a second that went down as an own goal from Saints debutant Enes Alic, albeit Laurent Mendy was claiming it.But their exertions in Austria, where they played with 10 men for 45 of the 120 minutes before winning on penalties, appeared to take a toll as they were left clinging on in the closing stages after Ruari Paton pulled one back for the visitors in the 48th minute.“It was a decent first half, where we should have scored more goals,” said