Great Scott: Fox rules box as Hearts miss beat

Hearts Ross County

HEARTS came up against an inspired goalkeeper in Scott Fox, but they really only have themselves to blame for dropping more points at home. True, the Ross County keeper kept the men from Gorgie at bay almost on his own in the first half, and he was deserving of all the praise he received after the match.

However, Hearts had plenty of other chances and a ridiculous amount of possession in which to come up with a winner, and they fell short. Their delivery from freekicks and corners, usually a strong point, was poor.

County are the masters of taking points out of games they are second best in and after their draw at Ibrox last weekend, they were at it again.

“Again it was disappointing because we played well, we created a lot of chances, and that’s the key, and we are not giving the opposition much at the other end,” said Robbie Neilson, the Hearts manager. “We are dominating large periods of the games and there will be times you go through when the team isn’t scoring as much as you would like.

“What I would say is that it bodes well in the sense that when it does click, we are going to pick up points.”

The match came to life after 10 minutes, when from the fringes of his own penalty box, Hearts’ Conor Sammon made a run nobody could do anything about. After eating up 70 yards all on his own, he slipped a pass to Tony Watt, the striker shifted the ball onto his right foot and it would have been a goal had County goalkeeper Fox not pulled off a sensational one-handed save.

Then all sorts happened after 22 minutes. A County corner was headed towards goal by Andrew Davies, the ball came off the underside of the bar and must have been an inch off crossing the line.

Hearts cleared, Sam Nicholson countered with real pace, he found Watt with a pass, who lined up Sammon, and yet again Fox was excellent in goal, getting down low to his right this time.

Fox was having some game. After 28 minutes, from a Hearts corner taken by Don Cowie, big Igor Rossi rose powerfully and sent what seemed to be an unstoppable header towards the net until the County goalie once again produced another great stop.

It was now getting ridiculous. Sammon had a clear shot at goal and, guess what, Fox blocked him, although the effort wasn’t great.

When Fox wasn’t saving, Hearts were missing. The second half was seven minutes old when Watt ran at the Highlanders’ defence, put the ball exactly where Nicholson wanted it, only for the winger to be wild with his finish.

And that was about it in terms of opportunities. Ross County sat deep and Hearts lacked ideas.

The visitors were reduced to 10 men when Ian McShane received a second yellow card for catching Faycal Rherras. He could have had no complaints.

Jim McIntyre agreed that the Davies effort had not been over the line, the red card was a correct decision and that his keeper had a decent afternoon.

“Scott is very reliable,” said the Ross County manager. “He’s a good goalkeeper and you can see why he was away with the Scotland squad in the summer.

“That’s three [draws] in a row now. You need to take all three points if you want to get up that table. It’s disappointing, but I’d rather speak about the bravery of the players and how much they grafted for each other.”

Missing chances bodes well in the sense that when it does click, we are going to pick up points