© EuroFootball.com
In the "Premier" league of Scotland, the Edinburgh "Hearts" club, currently holding the second place, faced the "Aberdeen" team in the last match of the 15th round on Sunday. The debut of the new head coach of the capital team, Graham Rix, did not go very well - his players played a draw and lost two points in the battle for the first place.
1 - 1
13` [1 - 0] Jamie Smith
63` [1 - 1] Rudi Skacel
After the disqualification, Edgaras Jankauskas returned to the starting lineup of "Hearts," and Saulius Mikoliūnas started for the second consecutive match, while Deividas Česnauskis had to watch the beginning of the match from the bench.
One of the first opportunities to score came from E.Jankauskas, but his shot from a sharp angle hit the goal post from the other side. The guests, who started the match not too bad, gradually began to lose initiative and in the 13th minute the hosts broke through when the ball bounced to Jamie Smith after a melee in the penalty area, and he shot accurately into the corner of the goal.
The goal disturbed the "Hearts" team and they struggled to find ways towards the opponents' goal. However, soon after, Ryan Esson, the goalkeeper of "Aberdeen," had to save his team - E.Jankauskas managed to kick the ball from under the opponent's feet and pass it to Rudi Skacel, whose shot was saved by the goalkeeper. The attack continued and after a corner kick, Michal Pospisil headed the ball wide.
"Aberdeen" continued to try long-range shots, and towards the end of the first half, after a pass from S.Mikoliūnas, the shot by the visitors' team captain Steven Pressley flew completely wide. Just before the break, the hosts managed a dangerous attack, but J.Smith, in a grateful position, shot straight at the goalkeeper.
In the second half, the "Hearts" players started focused and determined to equalize the score as soon as possible. The Edinburgh team succeeded in doing so in the 63rd minute, when R.Skacel received a pass from E.Jankauskas and shot from 20 meters, the ball deflected off the defender's leg and sailed into the goal.
Soon after, R.Skacel could have put his team ahead, but his attempt was saved by the goalkeeper, and a follow-up shot by S.Pressley was unsuccessful. At the end of the match, the visitors, with D.Česnauskis replacing E.Jankauskas in the 80th minute, launched a siege on the opponent's goal, but they could not score a winning goal, so the teams had to settle for a draw.
After this draw, "Hearts" found themselves in the second position for the first time this season, trailing the leading Glasgow "Celtic" club by two points, with a five-point lead over the city neighbor in third place, "Hibernian."
