Rudderless Hearts and Lawrence Shankland take a baby step in front of baying Tynecastle

This was their first outing since Steven Naismith was axed as Hearts head coach last weekend. Liam Fox is in charge on an interim basis and, back at Tynecastle, there was mild improvement to the way they played. The Jambos dominated possession and created enough chances to earn at least a point, yet they were reliant on a scrappy leveller on 96 minutes when Shankland managed to nod a corner kick past the previously impervious Ross Laidlaw.

Goals have been Hearts' - and Shankland's - biggest problem this season. In ten matches in across three competitions, they have only managed a measly four. They had 20 shots against a stubborn County side and forced 11 corner kicks. Deployed in a 4-2-3-1 formation, Hearts were more creative than of late yet still lacked a ruthlessness when it matters most.

However, given they fell behind for the ninth successive match after Ronan Hale curled home a quite sumptuous strike on 36 minutes, the draw will be welcomed. Tynecastle was bristling for most of the 90-plus minutes, the natives understandably angered by where the club is in the Premiership. They remain bottom on two points.

Fox handed a debut to 19-year-old right-back Adam Forrester due to the suspected ACL rupture suffered by Gerald Taylor. The academy graduate fared well on his first taste of top-flight action. It was telling that Fox did not start one of the nine new players brought in over the summer.

Hearts started brightly enough. Cammy Devlin fluffed his lines on three minutes from close range after Shankland centred a spilled Laidlaw save, the Australian not striking the ball with enough conviction, which allowed County's Ryan Leak to block near the goalline. The tenacious Australian had two other shots at goal in the first half, and Laidlaw saved well from Kenneth Vargas, all when the match was level.

County were well organised and countered with a degree of threat. Their goal was well-worked, Hale flicking the ball to Connor Randall on the half-way line. Formerly of this parish, the Staggies' captain drove forward and while Beni Baningime did well to tackle the Englishman, the ball rolled into the path of Hale and he finished superbly with an unstoppable finish past Craig Gordon.

Given Hearts' confidence levels were already very low, it is to the hosts' credit that in the second half, they never gave up. The quality may have been missing at times but they kept plugging away, hemming County into their own half. Spare an Akil Wright header that went wide late on, the visitors were muted. Yet as the clock ticked down, it seemed Hearts' moment would not come.

That feeling was exacerbated when, five minutes into added-on time, Shankland was sent clean through on Laidlaw after a neat flick from substitute Liam Boyce. Laidlaw made himself big and blocked his effort, the ball looping out for a corner kick. The big keeper celebrated the moment like he had won the game but from Yan Dhanda's corner, Shankland bravely stuck his head into the mix and found the net. The appearance of Gordon in the box may have unnerved County.

Shankland has been on a horrible run of goalscoring form since last season's tally of 31 strikes, and everyone of a Hearts persuasion will hope that effort will turn the tap back on. One continual issue in this team is that nobody else really looks like scoring.

Dinamo Minsk await Hearts next as they begin their Europa Conference League campaign away in the neutral territory of Azerbaijan, with the tie against the Belarussians on Thursday night being staged behind closed doors. Perhaps not having a baying maroon mob on their backs will help this team, given the low morale. The fans have every right to get on the players' back given the recent results, but it is clear the pressure put upon them from the stands weighs heavy.

A better barometer of Hearts will come next weekend, when they visit red-hot Aberdeen at Pittodrie just 72 hours after playing 3500 miles away in Sumqayit. Lose that and they will be 19 points clear of a team they are expected to rival for third place. Managerless and winless, despite the positive end to this contest, Hearts have a long way to go.

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