RUSSELL SAYS DRAW WAS FAIR

The Edinburgh outfit lost ground on Bank of Scotland Premier League leaders Celtic after being held at Pittodrie but Rix thought it was a just result in his first game.

"I said to them at half-time I am embarrassed by the first 45 minutes but to be fair they responded," he said.

"I asked them to lift their game, be 20% sharper, be quicker and close people down, just real basic stuff. But they responded in the second half to play really well.

"I am delighted to get my first game out of the way and with the lads for the way they responded to what I said."

Aberdeen took the lead through a first-half Jamie Smith shot but Hearts snatched a point with Rudi Skacel's effort taking a deflection off Gary Dempsey to beat Ryan Esson.

Dons defender Russell Anderson was named man of the match and he was satisfied with the result after their disappointing CIS Insurance Cup defeat Motherwell.

"It was a fair result," he said.

"We didn't have that many opportunities in the second half and although their result was slightly fortunate it was probably a fair result.

"They were always going to come out stronger for the second half as they tried to stay up with Celtic.

"They have had a very good season so far so on the face of it a 1-1 is not a bad result."

Aberdeen's response also pleased manager Jimmy Calderwood after his recent criticism and hailed it a good advertisement for Scottish football.

"They are a good team and I thought we matched them," he said.

"It showed the Scottish game is at a high level."

Taken from the Press and Journal