Liverpool loanee Luca Stephenson’s third goal of the season helped Dundee United earn a point at Tynecastle, holding Hearts to their second draw in three games. Austin Fenton reports from Gorgie.
United manager Jim Goodwin made five changes from his side that lost 2-0 to Motherwell last Wednesday in the hopes that his side could pick up their second away win of the season. Having won their last two trips to Tynecastle by a 1-0 score line, the prospect of three points may well have been enticing.
As for the hosts, Derek McInnes rewarded Pierre Landry Kaboré with his third start of the season following his brace last week against Dundee FC. Iceland midfielder Tomas Magnusson picked up his first start since joining the Jambos from Valur.
Expectations were expectedly high for table-topping Hearts but it was Dundee United who enjoyed a brighter start. With just eight minutes played Zac Sapsford rushed in behind and beat Alexander Schwolo with a delicate chipped finish – only for the flag to immediately be raised.
Hearts soon grew into the game and controlled the vast majority of possession. A very attacking lineup featuring top scorers Lawrence Shankland and Claudio Braga, the aforementioned Kaboré and Alexandros Kyziridis wasn’t without its drawbacks, and the committed bodies forward left plenty of space for Dundee to threaten on the counter attack.
Amar Fatah was Dundee’s best outlet throughout the first half and comfortably had the better of Oisin McEntee at right-back.
A handful of chances soon fell Hearts’ way. Kaboré found space after dropping deep to receive the ball and made his way forward before blasting narrowly wide of Kuchurenko’s far post. Claudio Braga had a similar opportunity minutes later, cutting in from the left flank and drilling a low effort off target.
With 25 minutes played, Hearts – as they have so often this season – took the lead. A short corner worked its way to Kyziridis 20 yards from goal. The Greek winger curled his right footed effort goalward and found the net through somewhat fortunate means as the ball struck the post and bounced into the back of the net courtesy of a flailing Kuchurenko’s back.
The Tangerines weren’t to be pegged back and levelled almost immediately through Amar Fatah, who got goal side of McEntee and fired across goal only for Schwolow to deny him with a sharp stop.
It wasn’t his first chance of the half, and it certainly would not be Dundee United’s last.
Seconds before the board had even been raised for added time, the visitors deservedly found themselves level. Fatah floated a corner towards the back post – it evaded every maroon shirt and found Luca Stephenson unmarked.
The marauding full-back headed back across goal and beyond Schwolow to spark wild celebrations in the away end.
With his half time team talk likely shaken up, McInnes made two changes in an attempt to get more of a foothold on the game, with Kaboré and McEntee making way for Stephen Kingsley and Michael Steinwender.
The former came close to restoring Hearts’ advantage on the hour mark, whipping a free kick just over the bar from 20 yards out.
United found their rhythm in the last thirty minutes and enjoyed some good passages of play around the Hearts penalty area. Panutche Camara, who has impressed in midfield since joining from Crawley Town, found acres of space following a neat one-two with Ivan Dolcek on the right-hand side but dragged his finish well wide.
The offside flag would strike twice more to keep the scoreline level, much to the frustration of the travelling support. Zac Sapsford raced in behind Hearts yet again before squaring for Fatah to slide in and tap into an empty net but was denied by an offside for the second time. A quick VAR check confirmed the on-field decision.
The New Zealand forward will be cursing the linesman. After 86 minutes, a flick on from a corner dropped kindly for Sapsford to finish on the turn. He was well offside on this occasion, and there were little complaints.
With a final score of 1-1, Hearts remain unbeaten but that will feel like two points dropped at home. Celtic won 4-0 against Kilmarnock to close the gap to seven points, and the champions have a game in hand.
For Jim Goodwin’s Dundee United, it’s a well-earned point and he was happy to look at the positives.
“I was really pleased with the performance. I thought it was a great reaction from the performance against Motherwell where we got it badly wrong on the night. I thought the shape of the team without the ball was excellent, we had a really good discipline without it, and I thought we carried a real threat on the counter-attack all afternoon.
“I was disappointed, to be honest, to not have scored more in the first half because of the opportunities that we had. I felt that we had the better of the dangerous attacks in the game, my goalkeeper didn’t have a big deal to do and Amar Fatah had a couple of very good chances in the first half. Zac Sapsford is unlucky with a couple of the offsides as well.”
The more bizarre point about United’s game was that they didn’t make a single substitution throughout the ninety minutes, but Goodwin saw reason for it.
“It’s definitely the first time I’ve finished the game with the team I started. When you’ve got the use of five subs, you always want to freshen it up, but at the same time – when you’re performing as well as you are – you’re a little bit reluctant to switch things. The fitness level of the players can never be questioned.”
For Derek McIninnes, however, it’s a bitter draw to take, and one that he saw as a missed opportunity.
“I thought we didn’t deserve any more than the point we got. It’s difficult to be too critical of the fact that twelve games in, we’ve hit thirty points and we’re still unbeaten but there’s no doubt that we came in today with high expectations to get three points and I have to accept that we weren’t good enough for the three points.
“Dundee United were good – I thought they set up with that counter attacking threat with two tens and filled the middle of the pitch. We possibly had one too many attacking players on the pitch, and I tried to address that at half time.
“I think we missed Beni Baningime today too. That’s nothing against anyone who played today – we just needed a bit more calmness. We never really had the control to settle in it, push them [Dundee United] back into their box. When we did, we get a corner and we score from it.
“We had good some good moments, but the game was far too back-and-forth for my liking.”
Hearts will be hoping to get another win under their belt after the international break when they travel to face Aberdeen at Pittodrie. Dundee United host Falkirk next time out.
