IT would be churlish to slate Craig Levein for the note- passing necessitated by Robbie Neilson’s vacating of the Hearts head coach’s job in favour of MK Dons. But just a day after his impassioned rebuttal of claims he meddled in team affairs, there the director of football was, slipping messages to the technical area with regularity.
Of course, these were entirely different circumstances. Coaches Jon Daly and Andy Kirk were the novices steering the Tynecastle ship, with Levein the seasoned and experienced figure prompting them from the stand. No amount of note-taking or message delivery, though, could impose order on this frenetic and drama-packed afternoon in the Global Energy Stadium. It was breathless stuff, particularly the crazy ending. The lead swung first to County, then Hearts and then it was all square after a late Liam Boyce penalty.
At 2-2, deep in stoppage time, County goalkeeper Scott Fox preserved a point for his team with a brilliant save from Jamie Walker’s penalty.
Hearts, with Newcastle United coach Ian Cathro the clear favourite, are expected to announce Neilson’s successor this week. Daly, with some conviction, spoke positively about what the new man will inherit. “You have to give credit to Robbie and [assistant] Stevie Crawford. They’ve left a fantastic squad of players for whoever comes in and takes over,” the former Dundee United striker said. “There’s great strength in depth there.
“My job was fairly simple. The team practically picked itself. We have a good squad to call on and the players helped us out a lot.”
Daly thought there was a jaded look to Hearts in the first half after their exertions in the victory over Rangers in midweek, but he praised what they mustered later in the match as Ross County’s poor record was extended one win in 17 encounters with Hearts.
County are a team on the up, however, after four games unbeaten, and are growing in assurance with every match at the moment.
The home team started positively, with Tony Dingwall, making his first start, passing up a great chance early on with a poor header. The Highlanders also saw a Boyce header parried under the bar by the Jack Hamilton in the Hearts goal.
But the breakthrough came two minutes before the break. A Chris Routis free-kick sparked chaos as the ball bobbled around Hearts’ six-yard area and Jay McEveley, scrambling up from the deck, managed to arc a shot up and over Hamilton from six yards. County kept up the pressure again in the second period but the game flipped on its head within the space of three minutes.
When Bjorn Johnsen drove determinedly at goal with a low strike from just outside the box, Arnaud Djoum showed great opportunism in diverting the ball with a touch that flummoxed home keeper Fox.
Then, after 67 minutes, County were stunned as Walker’s cross was smashed gleefully home by Callum Paterson six yards out.
County tried to hit back and when on Faycal Rherras handled inside the box, Boyce stepped up to send Hamilton diving the wrong way. Deep in stoppage time, Andrew Davies hauled down Walker in the area, but Fox rose to the challenge superbly with a great save.
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