Aberdeen v Heart of Midlothian

Hearts and Aberdeen battled out a 0-0 draw at Pittodrie, in a match that failed to produce any real moments of quality.

The Jambos made five changes to the side that defeated Dundee United the previous Saturday. Craig Thomson, Adrian Mrowiec, Ryan Stevenson, David Templeton and Andrew Driver all came in to replace the injured Lee Wallace, Suso Santana and David Obua, whilst Ian Black and Ruben Palazuelos missed out through suspension.

Hearts keeper Marian Kello was first to be called into action, when after three minutes he acrobatically tipped an edge-of-the-box shot from Sone Aluko over the bar.

Templeton had the Jambos first effort on goal on 18 minutes, he hit a shot from just outside the box which flew across the goal and a couple of yards wide.

A minute later Kello again pulled off a good stop, this time from a Rory McArdle header, the Slovak got down to his right to push the ball past his post.

On the half hour mark Hearts were forced to make a change as an injured Andy Webster was replaced at centre half by Ismael Bouzid.

Both teams fought to control the remainder of the first half, though neither side produced any clear cut chances.

Hearts came out attacking after the re-start, Rudi Skacel hit a shot from the edge of the area and forced Jamie Langfield into a save. Marius Zaliukas' header from the resultant corner flew over the bar.

Aberdeen pressed forward, Aluko received the ball deep inside the Hearts box, his low shot brought out another strong save from Kello, the Slovak cap's fourth of the match.

As the game progressed Jim Jefferies introduced two attacking players to try and grab the winning goal, Calum Elliot and Gary Glen coming on in the place of Driver and Stephen Elliott.

The rest of the match was played mainly in the midfield area, with both teams venturing forward on occasion but rarely threatening each other's goal.

It was Kello to the rescue again in the second minute of injury time, pulling off another stunning save, this time from a Nick Blackman thunderbolt.

Hearts Media would like to take a moment to remember Dons fan Stuart Lawtie who lost his brave battle with cancer aged 27 a few weeks ago. Stuart was not only a Dons fan but a fan of football and he will be greatly missed by all who knew him.

Aberdeen: Langfield, McArdle, McNamee(Young, 64), Considine, Maguire, Hartley, Vernon(Blackman, 73) Aluko(MAgennis, 81), Smith, Jack, Milsom. Subs not used: Howard, Vujadinovic, Paton, Anderson.

Hearts: Kello; C Thomson; Webster(Bouzid, 30); Zaliukas; Jonsson; Mrowiec; Stevenson; Skacel; Templeton; Driver(Elliot, 61); Elliott(Glen, 70). Subs not used: MacDonald; J Thomson; Prychynenko; Robinson.

Referee: Mike Tumilty

Top man: Marian Kello

Hearts World