| Date | Saturday, 23 November 2013 |
|---|---|
| Competition | Scottish Premiership |
| Fixture/Score | Heart of Midlothian 2:2 Ross County |
| Venue | Tynecastle Park |
| Attendance | 12,508 |
| Referee | Crawford Allan |
| Comments | Match Report Report by Brian McLauchlin for the BBC. Heart of Midlothian 2 Ross County 2 Hearts hit back twice to earn a point at home to 10-man Ross County. Graham Carey intercepted a pass from Callum Tapping to run in and shoot County in front on 20 minutes but Callum Paterson levelled soon after. Melvin De Leeuw drove the visitors ahead after the interval before Richard Brittain picked up his second caution. With Hearts piling forward, Ryan Stevenson bundled the ball over the line from a corner, with Paterson hitting the crossbar late on. Every point is crucial for Hearts as they gradually near positive figures following their 15-point deduction for entering administration. They are now on -3 but made up small ground on 11th-place Kilmarnock, who lost at home to Motherwell. Derek Adams' men came agonisingly close to a first league win since 5 October. Both sides had early opportunities to take the lead. Kevin Luckassen found space inside Hearts 18-yard box but his curling shot was wide of Jamie MacDonald's goal. At the other end good play by Paterson down the left set up Scott Robinson for a deep cross that Jamie Walker was inches away from connecting with. Hearts always looked dangerous going forward and a mix up in the County defence almost led to the opening goal. Centre half Scott Boyd collided with keeper Mark Brown as a cross came into the box and neither knew where the ball was before it hit the shin of Boyd and slowly rolled wide. Walker had a crack at goal but midway through the first half a terrible mistake by Tapping allowed Ross County to take the lead. The youngster tried an ambitious pass across the field that was intercepted by Carey, who found himself clean through on goal and fired the ball underneath the body of MacDonald. Their lead lasted just six minutes, though. Robinson mis-hit a corner but the ball eventually found its way to Paterson who fired an unstoppable left foot volley beyond Brown and into the net. Brittain found his way into the book of referee Crawford Allan after wrestling Walker to the ground. De Leeuw rattled the underside of the bar but County regained the lead when Hearts failed to clear the ball and De Leeuw fired the ball low into the corner. Brittain fouled Walker again to collect his second booking. Hearts pressed again and substitute David Smith shot over from close range before 'keeper Mark Brown held on to Stevenson's effort from 20-yards. Their numerical advantage was eventually made to count two minutes from time when Stevenson bundled the ball home from a corner. Smith's delivery was knocked down by Danny Wilson and the forward forced the ball home inside a congested six-yard box. Paterson crashed a header off the bar from a Smith free kick as the Jambos nearly took all three points. Derek Adams reflected on Ross County's "best performance of the season so far" against Hearts but was disappointed not to win at Tynecastle. County led twice and had captain Richie Brittain sent off in the 2-2 draw. "Offensively we were very good and defensively at times we had to be good because Hearts put a lot of crosses into the box," said Adams. "I'm disappointed we haven't won the game because I think with 11 men we'd have definitely done that." Adams had no complaints about Brittain's dismissal for two bookings and felt the match, in which Graham Carey and Melvin De Leeuw netted for the visitors, provided "a very good advert for Scottish football". Ryan Stevenson levelled the match in the final minute to seal a point for Hearts. "It was an excellent game," added Adams. "It was end-to-end from the start, two teams wanting to win the match. "We hit the bar and were one-on-one with the goalkeeper a couple of times and I thought we should've been out of sight in the first half. "Hearts obviously get the bonus that one of our players got sent off and then they get a lift from that and come into the game. "Overall, I thought it was a terrific afternoon for Scottish football and it was good to see." |
| Ross County | |
| Manager | Derek Adams |
| Starting 11 | 1: Mark Brown 1, 4: Stuart Kettlewell 1, 5: Scott Boyd, 6: Branislav Micic, 8: Richard Brittain 2 1, 10: Rocco Quinn, 11: Melvin De Leeuw 1, 15: Gary Glen, 19: Kevin Luckassen, 21: Brian McLean, 23: Graham Carey 1 1 |
| Bench | 20: Michael Fraser, 2: Mihael Kovacevic, 9: Orhan Mustafi, 14: Darren Maatsen, 16: Alex Cooper, 17: Steven Ross, 18: Mark Klok 1 |
| Heart of Midlothian | |
| Manager | Gary Locke |
| Starting 11 | Jamie MacDonald, Jordan McGhee, Dylan McGowan, Danny Wilson 1, Kevin McHattie, Jamie Hamill, Callum Tapping, Scott Robinson, Jamie Walker, Ryan Stevenson, Callum Paterson 1 |
| Bench | Mark Ridgers, Billy King, Dale Carrick, Adam King, David Smith, Brad McKay, Gary Oliver |