‘I need time to get back up to speed’

the game there will be lots of positive things to build on next week. But I am feeling robbed a little bit.

‘I give an enormous amount of credit to Aberdeen and in particular their goalkeeper, I thought he was outstanding today.

‘Often the Aberdeen players who get the credit are the forward players and today it felt like he single-handedly kept us at bay.’

While Lewis was the stand-out player, Levein heaped praise on Jamie Walker for his best performance of the campaign.

Walker was targeted by Rangers during the transfer window and was left out of the team for two games by caretaker boss Jon Daly before returning as the transfer deadline neared.

Levein admitted in the build-up to yesterday’s game that Walker had been unsettled by the saga, but applauded the player’s attitude since the window shut without a deal being agreed.

‘Jamie has been in a difficult situation,’ he said. ‘He’s a young lad who wants to play football. He trained brilliantly this week, his numbers were really good. I can only give everybody the same opportunity to impress, and he’s been fantastic.

‘He did himself proud out there on the field and as you saw from the reaction of the Hearts supporters when he came off, they were fully appreciative of the efforts he put in.’

Aberdeen boss McInnes proclaimed he was pleased with the way his team started the game but admitted that, by the end, he was satisfied with a point.

He said: ‘In simplistic terms, we were the far better team in the first half. I love how we came here and grabbed the game.

‘The players relished playing on the surface and I think that showed in the opening half an hour. But if we’re being honest enough with ourselves, we take the point.

‘We gave Hearts encouragement at times but you have to say, Hearts have got good players. We were more pleased to hear the full-time whistle than Hearts were.’