Hearts salvaged a 1-1 draw in their final Premiership match pre-World Cup against Livingston.
The Jambos are wrapping up before the tournament in Qatar - which Kye Rowles, Cammy Devlin and Nathaniel Atkinson will represent Australia in - after a demanding run of domestic and European football. Manager Robbie Neilson's side started on the front foot but Livi soon grew into the game and had an effort cleared off the line at the first half's end.
Andrew Shinnie then robbed Robert Snodgrass in midfield and arrowed a shot narrowly wide, before their pressure eventually came good. Stephen Kelly arrowed a fine effort into the bottom corner. It got worse for the home team as Rowles was sent off on his first start at Tynecastle since a foot injury, but Craig Gordon saved Sean Kelly's resulting penalty. That proved key as the home team rallied to see Josh Ginnelly claim a point deep into stoppage time. Here are three things we learned from the Hearts performance.
READ MORE: Robbie Neilson in Rangers time-wasting claim with Hearts boss unhappy with three minutes injury time
Sign up to Edinburgh Live newsletters for more headlines straight to your inbox
Defensive pros and cons
Rowles again looked comfortable next to Toby Sibbick in the heart of the maroon defence but when he was caught cold by Joel Nouble, it proved costly.
VAR spotted him dragging him back and as the last man you can't do that. The good news with it was Craig Halkett made his return from injury to replace him.
Stern stuff
You don't want to write off this Jambos side. Last week they were down to 10 men against Motherwell and managed to dig out a win.
When they were reduced a player here, hope looked lost, before striking in the final seconds to salvage something. If this team have one thing, it's courage.
Time to catch breath
There's no doubt that this period has had an affect on Hearts. There's been a few reality checks and almost an XI's worth of injuries, but they're at the end of it now.
To go through all that and be in a potential European spot is good going all things considered, and they will head into the second half of this season as big contenders to reach that frontier again.
READ NEXT:
- Hearts narrowly lose out at Rangers as Premiership becomes congested - three things we learned
- Cammy Devlin shelves Hearts and Hibs rivalry as he talks Boyle and Cummings Australia connection
- Jorge Grant Hearts red card appeal fails as midfielder set to miss Rangers and Livingston tussles
- Hearts star Cammy Devlin's tears of joy after Australia World Cup call revealed by Graham Arnold
