Walker woe as Hearts stutter and Caley Thistle cling on for a crucial point

FROM being in a position just a couple of weeks ago where it looked like the engine was beginning to purr, Hearts, once again, find themselves requiring something of a kick-start.

Sure, the wholesale changes introduced by new manager Ian Cathro were always likely to result in some teething problems. The ploughed field that passes for the Tynecastle pitch right now is hardly conducive to smooth forward momentum either.

However, this was hardly a moraleboosting display from Cathro’s team just days before that Scottish Cup fifth-round replay at Easter Road.

It wasn’t a bad performance, as such. It was undoubtedly disappointing, though.

Failure to beat the bottom team in the Premiership, a side that has now failed to win in 14 league fixtures, cannot be anything else. The boos from the home support at full-time reflected that degree of frustration.

Consecutive three-goal wins over Rangers and Motherwell had given the impression the juggernaut was starting to roll under the new set-up, but that stinker of a match against Hibs and this latest draw, which damages hopes of a top-three finish, has brought a sense of deflation.

Defeat across the city on Wednesday and Cathro is pretty much back to square one. Win and he has another platform on which to progress. It is a big 90 minutes (or more) in prospect.

Hearts had most of the game against Inverness Caley Thistle and the lion’s share of the chances. They just lacked that magic ingredient in the final third against a visiting side with a new central-defensive pairing of midweek signing Louis Laing, released by Motherwell, and inexperienced loan arrival Jamie McCart that dug in exceptionally well.

Jamie Walker missed a penalty at 1-1 and Esmael Goncalves just failed to get going. At the other end, they wrapped up the opening goal for Carl Tremarco in a big maroon bow by giving him a free header from a free-kick and always looked susceptible to the counter-attack.

Cathro had little to say about Tremarco’s goal, which was duly cancelled out by Arnaud Djoum. He insisted it was nothing to do with new players still learning their jobs, but will surely be seeking explanations in the video analysis.

Jake Mulraney won the free-kick midway inside the Hearts half, to the right of centre. Greg Tansey delivered a decent ball in from the set-piece, but no one could have predicted the alarming degree of time and space Tremarco would be permitted to jump unchallenged and place a crisp header into the net.

Hearts dominated play after the goal, much as they had done before it, but it was not wholly convincing.

Djoum, making his first start since returning from Cameroon’s success in the African Cup of Nations, saw a shot blocked by Tremarco.

Bjorn Johnsen was denied by the crossbar after an effort had taken a deflection off David Raven and looped over Owain Fon Williams.

Fon Williams then touched over a long-range effort by Andraz Struna and Goncalves put a header wide.

For Goncalves, it was one of those days. The one-time St Mirren forward has received plenty of positive publicity since returning to Scottish football in the January window, but nothing worked for him yesterday.

When he sliced an awful effort high and wide as his side pushed for a stoppage-time winner, the frustration of the home crowd boiled over. His day was summed up on 52 minutes when he moved onto a deep cross by Choulay, volleyed the ball past Fon Williams and saw it cannon off the inside of the right-hand post.

Djoum showed him how it is done, though, with the equaliser from a fairly similar position a little later.

Perry Kitchen crossed and Djoum met it first-time at the back post, with the ball evading Fon Williams and rolling into the back of the net.

Just as Hearts had put themselves in a good position, though, they almost sold the jerseys again. A corner from Tansey made its way to Draper on the far side of the area. He must have been a good 14 yards out.

However, his header was inexplicably allowed to take a bounce and then struck the inside of keeper Jack Hamilton’s right-hand upright before being cleared. From there, it all went a little crazy for a while.

Within moments, Djoum had moved into the Inverness area from the left and gone down under a push from Draper. Jamie Walker stepped up to take the spot-kick, but saw it saved low to his left by Fon Williams.

Aaron Doran might have snatched the points for the visitors late on when he headed wide, but carry on digging out points like this and Inverness may just get out of the dogfight alive.