Hearts 1 Middlesbrough 1

A late header by Hearts defender Andy Webster gave an experimental team a share of the spoils against Middlesbrough in their friendly at Tynecastle.

New Boro striker Aiyegbeni Yakubu got his Teesside career off to a perfect start by scoring a 78th-minute penalty after Jambos midfielder Paul Hartley fouled Gaizka Mendieta inside the penalty area.

But moments later, Webster, a recent target of Rangers, latched onto a Joe Hamill corner to knock a close-range header past stranded Middlesbrough goalkeeper Brad Jones.

Jambos manager George Burley had made so many changes that Webster and goalkeeper Craig Gordon were the only two of the starting XI left on the pitch at the end of the match.

Hearts listed out-of contract captain Steven Pressley as 'trialist' on the team sheet and also fielded four other players hoping to earn contracts at Tynecastle - Sebastien Schemmel, Julien Brellier, Roman Bednar and Michal Pospisil.

New signing Rudolf Skacel also played.

Pospisil, playing as a striker, lasted only 10 minutes before he pulled up with what looked like a hamstring injury to be replaced by Calum Elliot.

Not surprisingly, it was the visitors who showed greater cohesion in the early stages and in the 14th minute Yakubu missed a gilt edged chance when he headed a Mendieta cross wide from 10 yards out.

Then Webster made a mess of a simple ball into the box, allowing Middlesbrough defender Ugo Ehiogu a free shot from 10 yards which Hearts 'keeper Gordon brilliantly saved at his near post.

Hearts settled and in the 20th minute playmaker Hartley swung in a tremendous free-kick from the left which the unmarked Bednar failed to connect with.

At the other end, a powerful 30-yard free-kick from visiting full back Franck Queudrue had Gordon moving smartly to his right to push the ball past the post.

At the interval another Hearts trialist, Lithuanian striker Arturas Rimkevicius, replaced Bednar but there was a low key start to the second half.

On the hour mark, unmarked Middlesbrough defender Queudrue managed to head an Adam Johnson corner wide of the target from 12 yards when it seemed easier to score.

Three minutes later Gordon was again called into action when he tipped a Yakubu volley from close range over the bar.

Yet another Jambos trialist, the highly-rated Porto player Edgaras Jankauskas, replaced Elliot in the 65th minute but by then the game was disjointed through numerous substitutions.

The game took an unexpected twist in the 78th minute when Hartley tripped Mendieta inside the Jambos penalty box and Yukubu calmly chipped the spot-kick past Gordon.

In the 82nd minute however, Webster nipped in at the back post to head home a Hamill corner and the home side, despite their many changes, had grabbed a deserved draw.

Taken from sportinglife.com