Hearts 2 Tottenham 2

By Ken Gaunt, PA Sport

Hearts showed their fighting spirit for the second time in three days to earn a share of the spoils against the Worthington Cup winners.

Tottenham apppeared to be cruising thanks to an own goal from Grant Murray and a close range effort from Stefan Iversen.

But Hearts, who came from 2-0 down to defeat Fulham 3-2 on Wednesday, almost repeated the treatment against another ambitious London club.

Manager Jim Jefferies will now surely face UEFA Cup contenders St Johnstone next Saturday with a degree of confidence.

Tottenham, also in Europe, fielded an almost full strength side. Allan Nielsen, however, was a surprise omission for this Tynecastle friendly.

Nielsen was named on the official team-sheet and he took part in the warm-up with the rest of the squad.

But he did not appear for the start of the game and was replaced by Mark Gower, who had a spell in Scotland last season when he went on loan to Motherwell.

Striker Gary Wales was named on the bench for the home side follwoing his £50,000 move from Hamilton.

Hearts almost took the lead after three minutes when Thomas Flogel sent a shot into keeper Ian Walker's body following a cross from Lee Makel.

However, Tottenham went on to dominate the first 45 minutes, even though they looked as though they were in third gear.

Hearts keeper Gilles Rousset did well to turn away a fierce volley by Darren Anderton, then reacted quickly to smother a shot from David Ginola.

Jose Dominguez raced clear only to send a shot over the top and Gower squandered a great chance in front of the posts before Tottenham took the lead in the 36th minute.

The Hearts fans were furious as the visitors broke away to score with Leigh Jenkinson lying on the pitch following a heavy challenge from Sol Campbell.

Iversen squared the ball to Anderton and Grant Murray helped the ball into the net after Rousset had got a hand to it.

Tottenham added a second two minutes before the break when Iversen headed home after a lovely chip from Dominguez had come back off the bar.

Hearts' best chance of the half fell to Scott Severin but he somehow managed to head wide from close range from Makel's free kick.

The Edinburgh club took up the challenge in the second half to the delight of the 9,000 fans.

They pulled a goal back in the 49th minute when Makel drove a free kick from the edge of the area into the corner.

It should have been a penalty but referee Kevin Stott, on an exchange visit to Scotland from the United States, ruled that Chris Perry had brought down Colin Cameron outside the box.

Wales was given his first outing for Hearts in the 58th minute when he replaced Leigh Jenkinson.

Twelve minutes later Hearts were level with a delightful goal from Cameron, who beat keeper Ian Walker to Stevie Fulton's pass and headed into the net off the underside of the bar.

Taken from sportinglife.com