Ten man Ross County dug deep to secure a point with a hard fought goalless draw at Hearts.
County manager Jim McIntyre made two changes for the trip to Tynecastle with Liam Boyce returning to the starting line-up after missing the goalless draw at Rangers last weekend due to a back spasm. He replaced Alex Schalk, who suffered a medial ligament injury at Ibrox.
The other change came in midfield with Ian McShane replacing Craig Curran, who was named on the bench.
The home side served early notice of their threat when they created the first chance of note in the game and it came from a corner for the Staggies with the clearance resulting in a counter-attack but County goalkeeper Scott Fox was equal to Tony Watt’s effort, turning the Hearts forward’s shot over the crossbar.
County thought they had broken the deadlock when Andrew Davies’ header bounced down off the crossbar but their appeals that the ball had crossed the line were waved away and the home side broke clear but Fox saved his side again, diving low to his right to keep out Conor Sammon’s shot.
The Staggies did not allow Hearts the same space in the second half and they restricted the home side to long range efforts which failed to find the target.
County’s task was made harder by the dismissal of Ian McShane for two bookable offences within three minutes which left the visitors playing with 10 men for the final seven minutes.
McIntyre’s side fared little better towards the Hearts goal but it was the visitors who returned to Dingwall the happier of the two sides following a hard earned point.
