Dundee United remain in third place on goal difference after they and Hearts played out a stalemate at Tynecastle.

Hearts' Christian Nade was substituted after 30 minutes as the match threatened to boil over following his harsh challenge on Paul Dixon.

Neither goalkeeper had a save to make in a disappointing first 45, although Hearts finished the half stronger.

Andrew Driver had a chance to seal the points for the home side but shot straight at the goalkeeper.

Only goal difference separated third-placed Dundee United and Hearts below at the start of the afternoon.

And United looked hungry to go clear of Csaba Laszlo's men as they put the hosts under some early pressure.

However, in the first half, neither goalkeeper had any save of note to make.

Craig Conway went past three Hearts defenders and tried his luck from 20 yards but failed to keep the shot down.

Ten red cards had been handed out in the previous five meetings between these two sides and more looked possible as the heavy tackles became more commonplace.

Hearts forward Christian Nade was perhaps fortunate to only see a yellow card after scything down Paul Dixon with 33 minutes on the clock.

Boss Csaba Laszlo must have feared the Frenchman would eventually be sent off as he immediately substituted Nade for David Obua.

The flashpoint was one of very few first-half talking points as the match struggled to live up to its 'game-of-the-day' billing.

However, Hearts were inches away from taking the lead minutes before the break, when neither Ruben Palazuelos nor Obua was able to connect with Laryea Kingston's excellent ball across goal.

Andrew Driver flashed a shot across goal that had Lukasz Zaluska worried as the half ended goalless.

Hearts picked up in the second period where they left off, with Driver and Kingston pulling the strings for the home side.

The Tynecastle side had appeals for a penalty waved away in the 52nd minute as Garry Kenneth blocked Kingston's shot.

At the other end, Marius Zaliukas stopped Conway's volley from reaching the target and Jon Daly came close with a header.

Driver went past Willo Flood to carve out a shooting opportunity but curled the ball into the arms of Zaluska.

And, despite a frantic finish, neither side was able to break the deadlock.

Hearts manager Csaba Laszlo:
"I think today was a good football game, maybe a draw was not the best result for us.

"If I'm honest it was a good performance from Dundee United, but we played good football today.

"We had chances, and if we'd both taken our chances we could have won 2-1 maybe.

"But today you saw a game you can show throughout the world as good publicity for Scottish football.

Dundee United manager Craig Levein:
"We got loads of effort and I thought we were marginally the better side and the only thing we didn't get was three points.

"A point isn't too bad because a lot of teams come here and struggle.

"I felt comfortable today; I didn't feel under any pressure. That's partly down to the way Hearts play.

"Their system is designed to defend and hit you on the break and our system today I deliberately did a similar type of thing.

"I wasn't going to come here like some teams have done recently and go gung-ho.

"Hearts are the home team so they should be the ones taking the game to us. So I thought let's play a wee game of chess and see what happens and we got a stalemate."

Hearts: Balogh, Neilson, Zaliukas, Berra, Lee Wallace, Kingston, Karipidis, Palazuelos, Driver, Aguiar (Stewart 77), Nade (Obua 33), Obua (Cesnauskis 83).
Subs Not Used: MacDonald, Mole, Thomson, Jonsson.

Booked: Nade, Karipidis.

Dundee Utd: Zaluska, Kovacevic, Wilkie, Kenneth, Dixon, Flood, Scott Robertson, Gomis, Conway, David Robertson (Swanson 62), Daly.
Subs Not Used: McGovern, Dillon, Grainger, Feeney, O'Donovan, Buaben.

Booked: Daly.

Att: 16,442

Ref: W Collum

Taken from the BBC