Lawrence Shankland continued his red-hot scoring kind as Hearts got here from two objectives down to attract 2-2 at house to Ross County.
After the controversial determination to not award the Jambos a penalty when Alan Forrest seemed to be tripped by Ross Laidlaw early within the second half, County regarded heading in the right direction for victory following an Alex Cochrane personal objective and a shocking free-kick from Yan Dhanda.
However substitute Kenneth Vargas sparked Hearts’ fightback with a cool end earlier than Shankland, the cinch Premiership’s prime scorer, netted his seventeenth of the season and his twelfth in 13 matches to safe a draw that saved his workforce two factors away from Kilmarnock in third place with a recreation in hand.
How Hearts fought again to earn a degree
Hearts boss Steven Naismith made three modifications to the workforce that began the midweek win away to Hibernian as Stephen Kingsley, Forrest and Beni Baningime had been changed by Craig Halkett, Alex Lowry and Kyosuke Tagawa.
County had been again in motion for the primary time since being eviscerated by their very own supervisor following a 1-0 house defeat by Dundee a fortnight beforehand.
Derek Adams – hoping for a optimistic response to his post-match declare that former workforce Morecambe had been “100 times better” than County – made two modifications as Will Nightingale and Conor Randall had been changed by Max Sheaf and Josh Sims.
The Staggies had the ball within the internet within the second minute when Ben Purrington headed house but it surely was dominated out for offside in opposition to Jordan White within the build-up.
The house facet then loved a spell of stress as Lowry, Frankie Kent and Tagawa all threatened throughout the area of 5 minutes.
County had been usually holding their very own, nonetheless, and they need to have gone forward within the nineteenth minute when Simon Murray was launched on objective however Zander Clark made a wonderful save earlier than reacting to disclaim Josh Sims from the follow-up try seconds later.
The Staggies threatened once more within the twenty ninth minute when White bought himself clear within the field, however Halkett slid in to make a significant block.
Hearts boss Naismith made two modifications for the beginning of the second half in an effort to spark an enchancment, with Forrest and Yutaro Oda despatched on rather than Tagawa and Aidan Denholm.
Forrest regarded to have made a swift impression within the 51st minute when he was launched by a cross from Shankland and seemed to be tripped as he tried to go spherical Laidlaw, solely to be yellow-carded for diving. Replays steered there was contact.
It proved a pivotal second as County went forward 4 minutes later when Cochrane knocked Murray’s cross into his personal internet as he slid in to problem Sims on the sting of the six-yard field.
And the guests doubled their lead within the 61st minute when Dhanda curled in a pleasant free-kick from 25 yards out.
Hearts rallied, nonetheless, and substitute Vargas bought them again within the recreation within the 71st minute when he latched on to a by means of ball and slotted calmly past Laidlaw.
Eight minutes later Shankland secured a degree with an outstanding left-footed end after he was teed up simply contained in the field by Calem Nieuwenhof.
What the managers stated…
Hearts supervisor Steven Naismith:
“I think we should have had a penalty from two incidents in the first and second half.
“With the primary one with Natty Atkinson, (Celtic striker) Kyogo (Furuhashi) will get a penalty right here (in October) in opposition to us by getting his physique in entrance of Cochrane.
“Today, Natty Atkinson gets his body in front of the defender, no penalty given. VAR should see it, but doesn’t.
“The second Alan Forrest will get contact. I can perceive the referee not seeing it with the pace of play, however VAR has bought to see it.
“I’ve come in and looked at the video and there’s contact. You pause it and there’s contact. It’s not given and it’s not good enough.
“That is twice earlier than as we speak we have had apologies for the incorrect determination being made by VAR, garbage. The optimistic for us is that we get again within the recreation and take one thing from the sport.”
Ross County boss Derek Adams:
“In the first half, we had so many good opportunities. The way we played, the way we passed the ball, the way we opened them up, it was a fantastic performance.
“Take a look at the possibilities we created, the objectives we did rating. Over the afternoon we had been the higher facet. I believed we had been superb.
“We could have been 2-0 or 3-0 up at half-time but we didn’t take the chances when we had them and we were up against a team that’s third in the league, and that’s what you get with them and the players they’ve got.”
What’s subsequent?
Hearts are away to Livingston within the Scottish Premiership on Tuesday, whereas Ross County host Aberdeen.
Each video games kick-off at 3pm.