Kilmarnock 0 Hearts 0

Hearts were denied a hat-trick of wins over the festive period as Kilmarnock dug deep to clinch their first point of the Christmas and New Year programme.

Paul Hartley struck the post in the first half and Killie defender Simon Ford twice cleared magnificently from inside his own six-yard box as the Edinburgh side endured a frustrating afternoon in Ayrshire.

Hearts substitute Roman Bednar wasted his side's best opening when he blasted over under no pressure from 16 yards.

Jim Jefferies' side defended with tremendous spirit and could have stolen the points through Steven Naismith but the youngster was denied in a double save from Craig Gordon.

On the second occasion, the Scotland goalkeeper came perilously close to carrying the ball into his own net.

Hearts head coach Valdas Ivanauskas made six changes to the line-up which started the derby match against Hibernian, three of which were forced due to injuries to Edgaras Jankauskas, Jose Goncalves and Julien Brellier.

Robbie Neilson returned at right-back and the visitors started brightly, forcing a corner in the second minute from which centre-back Marius Zaliukas guided a header just wide of Graeme Smith's right-hand post.

Five minutes later the Tynecastle outfit came even closer to opening the scoring when Hartley's wicked free-kick evaded everyone in the penalty box and struck Smith's left-hand post before bouncing clear to safety.

Scotland star Hartley was running the midfield and Kilmarnock broke out of their own half only intermittently.

A Gary Wales strike which whistled just over was their sole threat during the early stages.

But that effort gave the home side some confidence and led to them keeping better hold of possession in midfield.

Indicative of Kilmarnock's growing assurance was a volleyed effort from Peter Leven from 40 yards. Leven, normally a midfielder, was deployed by Jefferies as a makeshift striker owing to the absence of Colin Nish, but his long range effort failed to trouble Gordon.

From Hartley's inswinging cross from the left, Czech striker Michal Pospisil flashed a header six inches over the home side's bar.

Four minutes before the break Smith failed to gather a deep cross and when Saul Mikoliunas hooked the ball into the six-yard box, Ford did brilliantly to deflect Pospisil's effort over the bar.

Right on the half-time whistle Ford again came to his side's rescue when he cleared from inside his own six-yard box with Andrew Driver poised to put his team ahead.

The visitors made a similarly quick start to the second period as Mikoliunas volleyed inches wide after Garry Hay's unconvincing header clear fell into his path seven yards out.

Two minutes later the Edinburgh side went close again, Hartley playing a cute one-two with Takis Fyssas and the Greek left-back lashing a shot narrowly wide of the far post.

Hearts continued to press for the opener and in the 50th minute Killie central defender Gordon Greer slid a Mikoliunas shot just wide.

Kilmarnock almost snatched the lead when former Hearts player Allan Johnston played in Naismith.

The youngster's first touch was poor and although that allowed Gordon to block his shot, the ball looped up in the air and was spinning towards the Hearts net.

Neilson covered from full-back to prevent Naismith having a clear tap-in and that allowed Gordon to scramble back to claim the ball on his own goalline.

Bednar, dropped from the starting line-up, replaced Pospisil as Ivanauskas made his first substitution 20 minutes into the second half.

The change breathed fresh life into Hearts and defender Christophe Berra unleashed a terrific drive on 71 which Greer blocked with a brave sliding challenge.

Leven left the pitch in the 75th minute to be replaced by Andrew Barrowman.

Bednar went close a minute later when he rose highest and directed a header towards the bottom right-hand corner which Smith did well to push clear.

Bednar then missed their best chance of the match when he found himself in acres of space but could only lash his volley over the bar.

With three minutes remaining Naismith and Johnston brilliantly created an opening for Wales but the former Hearts man dragged his shot wide from the left side of the penalty box.

Teams:

Kilmarnock Smith, Grant Murray, Hay, Ford, Greer, Fowler,Johnston, Naismith, Invincibile, Wales, Leven (Barrowman 74).

Subs Not Used: Harpur, Dodds, Stephen Murray, Hamill, Adams,

Flannigan.

Booked: Johnston.

Hearts Gordon, Neilson, Fyssas, Berra, Zaliukas, Aguiar,Hartley, Driver, Mikoliunas, Velicka (Makela 86),Pospisil (Bednar 66).

Subs Not Used: Banks, Wallace, Barasa, McCann, Karipidis.

Booked: Neilson.

Att: 7,302

Ref: D McDonald (Scotland).

Taken from sportinglife.com