Craig keeps cool as talk heats up

He was replaced six minutes into the second half by Steve Banks but was happy just to be back playing again after being forced to miss training earlier in the week.

The 24-year-old has had to contend with relentless speculation over a move away from Tynecastle this summer, with Sunderland among those chasing his signature.

A price tag of around £8million has been placed on his head, but while his future remains uncertain the keeper is simply focusing on giving 100 per cent for Hearts.

However, Gordon revealed that even he didn't think he would take any part in the match, saying: "I trained half a session two days before the game and then the second of the two sessions the day prior to the match and I didn't expect to be playing to be honest, but the coaching staff wanted me to if I could. I felt I could play 45 minutes, I wasn't expecting to go out for the second half.

"I was just concentrating on my rehab and I think the game probably came a little bit too soon if I am being honest. I felt fine, though, and I thought I went out there and played all right.

"You have go to go out and play some pre-season games just to get your eye back, and things that go on in games are always different to what you can recreate in training so it's good, regardless of what's going on, to get myself fit for the season.

"I am just concentrating on doing what I can and captaining this team. As far as I am aware no bids have been accepted which means there are no decisions to be made or anything for me to think about. I just have to concentrate on what I'm doing.

"The speculation seems to come and go. It is probably the strongest that it has been at the moment and who knows what will happen. There is a lot of money being talked about, whether it is true or not, only the clubs involved will know. As I say, I've just got to stay concentrated on what I'm doing and prepare for the season."

The Tynecastle side won an early free-kick when some nice footwork from Andrius Velicka saw him crudely blocked by Mitja Schafer right on the edge of the box. Kingston swung the dead ball in to the danger area where Christophe Berra had created some space for himself, but he was just the wrong side of it and could only head it away from goal.

A ball over the top of the defence set Sercan Guvenisik free just a couple of minutes later and it looked as though he would get a shot in on Gordon's goal, but Berra showed a good turn of pace to draw level with him and get enough on the ball to put it behind. Stijn Haeldermans swung the corner out to the edge of the box and it was nodded back down for Soren Brandy, who caught it perfectly, but his shot on the volley was just a yard over the bar.

Rot-Weiss hit the side netting with their next move when Marius Zaliukas met a cross from the left, but his attempted chest-back to Gordon was short and that gave Vincent Wagner all the invitation he needed to have a go, only to fire just wide. Hearts won a free-kick when Velicka was cut down out wide on the right and McCann saw a chance to tee up Zaliukas for a close-range header, but keeper Soren Pirson was wise to it and came off his line quickly to pluck the ball from the air before the defender could connect.

It might have been a friendly but tempers boiled over when McCann didn't take too kindly to a crude challenge from Sercan Guvenisik and Tomas Kancelskis raced in to remonstrate with the player - followed by most of his Hearts team-mates who were trying to calm the situation down in front of a noisy crowd of around 3000.

Five minutes before the break, Kingston tried to go for goal from a free-kick, won after a foul on Michal Pospisil 25 yards out, but the wall broke too soon and charged forward and the visitors were awarded another free-kick further forward.

Kingston again took it and this time got a free sight of goal, but could only curl his effort wide of Pirson's right-hand post.

Hearts took the lead right on the stroke of half-time when another free-kick from Kingston, this time from the left flank, landed right on the head of Pospisil only for his effort to come back off the bar. The Czech star wasn't to be denied, though, and was perfectly positioned to hit home from four yards from the rebound, the referee blowing for the break directly after the ball had been respotted.

The Hearts line-up remained the same at the restart but the Jambos made four changes within six minutes of the second half kicking off, bringing Stewart, Driver, Palazuelos and Steve Banks on in place of Mikoliunas, Gordon, McCann and Kingston.

By the time those subs were made though Rot-Weiss had levelled the match, a cross in from Rolf-Christel Guie-Mien diverted into the net by Mario Klinger.

They almost added another when Jaroslaw Stankiewicz squared the ball almost right along the goal line but Banks did enough to put Niklas Andersen off his stride at the near post and the striker stabbed the ball past.

The home side may also have added to their tally when Ferhat Kiskanc set up fellow sub Moritz Stoppelkamp but he could only fire over the bar, with Banks having his goal well covered in any case.

Assistant manager Stephen Frail said: "It was a good workout but we still need to work on our sharpness, we're reasonably fit, we can still improve but in the heat I'm reasonably pleased with the way that we played.

"I'm happy we didn't lose the game but it is more important that we are another step closer to full fitness.

"We have still got a few more weeks and a few more friendlies before the Hibs game, it's little things concerning sharpness, things you have to do around the box, crossing, finishing and things like that, but that will come.

"It was good to see Craig playing for 50 or so minutes. We're glad to have him back on the pitch, the players all look up to him."

Rot-Weiss Essen: Pirson, Erfen, Czyszczon, Klinger, Guvenisik, Guie-Mien, Haeldermans, Wagner, Schafer, Gorschluter, Brandy. Subs: Zbiorczyk, Kotula, Kiskanc, Stoppelkamp, Lorenz, Andersen, Stankiewicz, Uzun, Said.

Hearts: Gordon, Kancelskis, Goncalves, Berra, Zaliukas, Ivaskevicius, Mikoliunas, Velicka, Pospisil, Kingston, McCann. Subs: Stewart, Banks, Wallace, Karipids, Tall, Neilson, Pilibaitis, Driver, Cesnauskis, Palazuelos.

Referee: Guido Winkmann.

Taken from the Scotsman