Tom Hendrie did not win any friends down Gorgie way with his criticism of the tactics employed by Hearts manager Jim Jefferies against Rangers last week but, rather unwittingly, he was influential in the undoing of his own St Mirren side at Tynecastle on Wednesday night.

Like schoolkids keen to contribute to the class frieze, the Hearts squad reported for duty armed with the offending news-paper cut-out and a determination to make their opponents' manager - a headmaster once upon a time - eat his harsh words.

They patrolled the pitch with all the menace of playground bullies and took great joy from playing hide and seek with their bedraggled victims.

Gary McSwegan and Juanjo proved to be the chief tormentors, and how the Saints must have wished their manager had kept his mouth shut.

There was even a wee scuffle involving the guardians before home time, with Jefferies voicing his displeasure towards Hendrie in no uncertain terms. However, while the childish spat will be forgotten in time, the Hearts players were intent on milking it.

The unflappable Antti Niemi revealed he was not one of the tell-tales who decorated the dressing room notice board and, indeed, the Finn was hugely underwhelmed by the whole caper.

None the less, he did express his astonishment at Hendrie's claim of negativity by Hearts during their 1-0 defeat at Ibrox.

Niemi had become accustomed to long periods of inactivity during his spell at Ibrox, and not only as a consequence of his status as third-choice goalkeeper behind Stefan Klos and Lionel Charbonnier.

On the rare occasion that he was selected for duty, Niemi found himself playing spectator for much of the 90 minutes as the opposition sat back, not through choice, but because they had no alternative amid an incessant attack.

''I saw the article and a lot of the players were talking about it before the game, but I could not really see what point the manager was trying to make,'' said Niemi.

''Teams like Parma and PSV Eindhoven have gone to Ibrox and defended, you simply cannot go there and play with three strikers, and that's why I didn't pay too much attention to the story because it didn't make sense to me.''

It is unlikely the managers will be ordered to explain themselves at Park Gardens, unless match official John Underhill mentions the incident in his report, but considering he took no action at the time, disciplinary action seems remote.

Scottish Football Association spokesman Andy Mitchell explained: ''If a disagreement takes place between two managers, the SFA really has no reason to step in - especially if there is no mention of that disagreement in the referee's report.

''The SFA does not condone bad language under any circumstances but it is the referee's remit to cover things relating to the procedure of the match.

''It doesn't extend to a security matter and we will await the report from the refereeing supervisor.''

In any case, they appear to have kissed and made up, with Hendrie phoning Jefferies yesterday to plead forgiveness, and Niemi played down the significance of the newspaper article to the outcome of the match, insisting the club simply wanted to return to winning ways.

''We didn't need any extra motivation for the game - although it gave some players an edge - because we wanted to maintain our good run of form, and although St Mirren were difficult, I think we deserved our victory.''

The result took them into the all-important top six in the SPL, but left St Mirren struggling near the foot of the table, with only Dundee United for company.

Hendrie will be well aware by now how lonely life can be down in the lower reaches, especially when he is in danger of ostracising himself completely from the coaching family, who share a common respect for the pressures and expectations of the job.

While Saints must try to procure at least a point against St Johnstone tomorrow, Hearts have their sights firmly set on their third league win of the season, against Kilmarnock on Sunday, one that would provide the ideal confidence booster ahead of the UEFA Cup return leg against VFB Stuttgart next week.

''If you would have asked any so-called football experts about our chances against a top club in the Bundesliga, nobody would have given us a chance,'' said Niemi.

''People expected us to lose by two or three goals but our goal was to keep the tie alive and we did that by losing only one goal.

''In fact, it could have been 0-0 or 1-1 but we we are proud with the way we played and will go into the match at Tynecastle with our heads high.''