Rot-Weiss Essen 1 Hearts 1

Captain Craig Gordon returned to first-team duty as Hearts were held to a draw in their latest pre-season friendly.

Hearts reached half-time with a narrow lead thanks to Michal Pospisil's goal.

Gordon, who is reportedly wanted by Sunderland, played for the first 51 minutes before being one of four players replaced when opponents Rot-Weiss Essen grabbed an equalising goal.

The Scotland number one had been out of action with minor leg injury and the suggestion he could move to a Premier League club led some to fear he had already played his last match for Hearts.

However he was involved and had to be alert early on as his goal came under threat from Sercan Guvenisik and Soren Brandy.

Vincent Wagner found Gordon's sidenetting as the German side held the upper hand, but Saulius Mikoliunas and Laryea Kingston began to threaten from midfield before Pospisil put Hearts ahead just before the break.

He found the net with a close-range strike after his header from Kingston's free-kick struck the goalframe.

Mario Klinger pulled Essen level after poor Hearts defending, and the four changes resulted in Spaniard Ruben Palazuelos making his Hearts debut.

Palazuelos has, according to his agent, bought his way out of a contract with Spanish side Gimnastica at the cost of £200,000 and hopes to earn a permanent move to Hearts.

Andrius Velicka came close to finding a winner in the searing heat but the vast number of second-half substitutions took the sting out of the fixture.

Taken from sportinglife.com