Neil Critchley refuses to blame Jorge Grant after penalty miss costs Hearts win

Neil Critchley refused to blame Jorge Grant after the midfielder spurned the chance to earn Hearts a third win on the spin when his stoppage-time penalty was saved by Aberdeen goalkeeper Ross Doohan in a goalless draw at Pittodrie.

In a game of few clear chances, the Jambos were awarded a spot-kick at the death when Sivert Heltne Nilsen bundled over substitute Kenneth Vargas in the box.

However, Grant – who was sent off on his last visit to Aberdeen in October – saw his penalty pushed on to the post by Doohan as the Tynecastle side missed the opportunity to climb from 11th to ninth in the William Hill Premiership.

“He’s obviously really disappointed, his head’s down, but he’s got the courage to take it, he wanted it straight away, and he’s a very good technician,” said head coach Critchley, who drew some solace from a third consecutive clean sheet and a fourth game in a row unbeaten.

“I have to give credit to the goalkeeper. I thought it was more of a goalkeeper save than a penalty miss.

“Jorge has taken penalties before for us and scored. It happens, unfortunately.

“In truth, it was a very even game, a point was probably fair, but obviously when you have a penalty in the last kick of the game to win it, then it probably does feel like two points possibly lost.

“But it’s another clean sheet for us, which is a real positive, and it’s a point away from home.”

Critchley dismissed a report that Turkish club Amedspor had made a bid for injured Hearts captain Lawrence Shankland although he did confirm that Australia defender Kye Rowles – an unused sub at Pittodrie – is set to seal his move to DC United in the coming days.

“I would have thought in the next 24, 48 hours negotiations could be completed,” he said. “We don’t want to lose our best players, but also we understand that it’s something that Kye might want to pursue and it could be a good deal for the club as well.”

Aberdeen are now without a win in 11 matches but manager Jimmy Thelin hopes Doohan’s penalty save, which prevented them going down to a sixth consecutive defeat, can be a turning point for his fourth-placed side.

“You have to sometimes be happy for the small victories when you are in this run,” said the Swede, who handed debuts to Latvian centre-back Kristers Tobers and Danish winger Jeppe Okkels.

“Before this game, we were losing and I think when you get a penalty against you in the 93rd minute and Ross saves it, it’s a really good feeling because you have to stop losing and start building from somewhere.

“It was a really important save. We have to try to catch these good positive moments and try to build on this one now and look forward to the next game.”