Robbie Neilson hails Hearts goalkeeper Craig Gordon's all-round game

Hearts manager Robbie Neilson says Craig Gordon allows the team to play attacking football after the goalkeeper was key to getting a point away at Ross County.

With the game in the balance at 1-1, the Scotland stopper made a crucial double save from Jordan Tillson and Ross Callachan in the second half.

Even at 39 years old, Gordon continues to shine as reliably as ever for the Tynecastle outfit, but Neilson believes Gordon’s contribution stretches to the attacking third as well as keeping opposing teams out.

“We’ve come to expect that from Craig,” Neilson explained.

“He’s one of the reasons we can be quite expansive, because we know it’s going to take a decent effort to beat him.

“We want to try and entertain, we want them to enjoy it and we have players here who can do that.

“We started the game really well and then we missed the penalty and Ross County came into the game.

“There was a 10-minute period where they put us under a lot of pressure, then we managed to get the goal back and the second half was back and forth.

“We had nearly 2000 fans come up and I think we entertained them.”

Ross County manager Malky Mackay echoed that sentiment, saying it was a great game to watch.

On top of the goals from Alex Iacovitti and Barrie McKay, the Hearts man missed a penalty and the Staggies hit the woodwork twice.

Although Mackay was disappointed not to come away with three points, he could not have asked for much more from his players.

“I think it would be a terrific game for a neutral today,” he said.

“It was two teams that really went for it, as you saw from the chances created.

“We were playing against clearly the third best team in the country and we actually stood firm and took the game to them and, right to the last minute, were trying to win the match.

“We had some great chances and I’m very proud of them and where we’ve come from since the start of the season.

“There was disappointment at not winning it, very much so. We had the chance in the second half from a couple of yards. How Craig Gordon saves it I’ll never know.

“We also had two that came off the post, so I’m really delighted with the steps forward they’ve made this year.”