Craig grasps the Thistle
GARY SUTHERLAND AT CALEDONIAN STADIUM

BLUSTERY conditions brought havoc to this Highland contest, with both teams hampered by the wind. It was hard going in Inverness yesterday and the hosts are entitled to feel hard done by as they coped better than Hearts and carved out enough chances to win the game. Craig Gordon made a couple of vital saves but, in picking up a point, Hearts' advantage over Rangers is snipped to six with the contenders for Champions League football facing each other at Tynecastle next Sunday.

Barcelona would have struggled with the harsh climate that handicapped Hearts here, according to Graham Rix. You might debate the coach's hypothetical viewpoint because Ronaldinho would tame the ball in a hurricane. But Rix was right in dubbing this an ugly match. Several Hearts men were missing through injury and suspension but Rix doubted whether their presence would have had a more positive effect because of the "impossible conditions". When Rangers' Ibrox win over Kilmarnock was mentioned, Rix's rhetorical response was: "Where would we rather be? Six points ahead or six points behind?" Point taken.

Inverness manager Charlie Christie was annoyed at having to settle for a draw. "It was blatantly obvious that we did enough to earn the points," rued Christie. "We dominated the second-half and created the best chances before the break. Craig Gordon made some good saves and showed why he is Scotland's No.1. I'm delighted for my players to have dominated a team of Hearts' calibre but frustrated that we didn't get the win that we deserved."

Richie Hart was rightly praised by his manager. The Inverness midfielder had an ongoing battle with Gordon but was ultimately thwarted by the Hearts keeper. "Richie had an exceptional game," said Christie of the sponsor's man-of-the-match. Hart even managed to drop his champagne prize. Furnished with a replacement bottle, he probably would have preferred the goal his attacking play merited.

Inverness were denied Dennis Wyness because of the terms of his loan agreement with Hearts, who welcomed Paul Hartley back following his three-match ban and he stood in as captain for Steven Pressley, laid low by a virus while Rudi Skacel and Edgar Jankauskas were also missing injured and Julien Brellier was banned.

Hearts had the wind in their favour in the first-half but it didn't do them any favours. Any through balls looked over-hit while pass backs resembled recipes for disaster. Inverness had the better chances before the break, Hart in particular prominent for the hosts. Taking a threaded supply from Alan Morgan, Hart, pursued by Takis Fyssas, drilled in a decent low shot but Gordon got down to save single-handed.

Then Hart received the ball in the far corner of the Hearts penalty box and swerved a fine first-time effort towards goal but Gordon leapt to cut out the intended trajectory of the shot and Hearts were off the hook. In the first minute of the game, Russell Duncan had tried to lob Gordon but the stiff breeze held the ball in the air for the keeper to scarper back and collect.

The best of Hearts (there wasn't much) came from striker Roman Bednar who had a shot blocked by Ross Tokely, after good build up play from the visitors, and another Bednar launch was saved by Mark Brown. Hart had another low missile, not enough angle on it, smothered by Gordon and the game was goalless at the break, the sole other talking point being Christophe Berra brazenly punching the ball out of play to nullify one Inverness flank threat, the Hearts man's bizarre action going unnoticed, or at least unpunished.

Inverness again looked more threatening after the re-start. In the Hearts goalmouth, Craig Dargo, called up for the Scotland Future squad's match here with Turkey on Wednesday, got the slightest of touches from a corner but Grant Munro missed a chance when he might have connected and threatened the breakthrough that never came.

Bruno Aguiar was booked for a tackle on Hart and a Morgan free-kick was saved by Gordon but Hearts were failing to register anything of note on the home goal. Tokely then centred for Graham Bayne but there was insufficient pace on his header to trouble Gordon. And when Tokely crossed again and Bayne got plenty on his second header, the ball inched wide of the post. When Bayne broke clear on the half-way line and was held back by Fyssas the latter was cautioned by the referee Kevin Toner.

There was a sad sight when Hearts substitute Jamie McAllister was led off the field on a stretcher with what looked like a knee injury to be replaced by Jose Goncalves. In the final moments, Hearts did threaten to pull off what would have been an undeserved winner and in injury time there was a daft fracas between a bunch of players over a bounce-ball but sanity prevailed, as did the deadlock.

Taken from the Scotsman