Inverness Caledonian Thistle 3-3 Heart of Midlothian
- Published
David Raven's rasping volley opened the scoring for Inverness Caledonian Thistle
Inverness CT and Hearts contested a thrilling 3-3 draw in the highlands.
David Raven, an early replacement for Carl Tremarco, volleyed in a terrific opener, before Lonsana Doumbouya clipped home Caley Thistle's second.
Hearts' Bjorn Johnsen netted before half-time, before a speculative Faycal Rherras cross was allowed to bounce into the home net untouched to level.
Aaron Doran fired Inverness ahead again, but the visitors equalised once more through Arnaud Djoum.
Caley Thistle remain in sixth place, with Hearts overtaking Aberdeen in third.
Simply thrilling
This was a truly brilliant, end-to-end game of football.
Inverness manager Richie Foran pointed to the strength of his squad pre-match and was forced to make unexpected changes.
Cammy Mackay replaced Owain Fon Williams in goal, who was listed to start, and Foran soon had to replace Tremarco with Raven, who slotted in at left back.
The change produced an unexpected benefit when Raven superbly volleyed home after a fantastic nod down from Ross Draper.
Doumbouya had already directed a header onto the top of the crossbar before he extended the lead with a fine finish after Liam Polworth centred.
Credit to Hearts though who took advantage of poor defending through Johnsen who finished brilliantly.
They pushed on from that although the equaliser was laced with fortune.
Rherras hoisted in a cross which evaded everyone, with goalkeeper MacKay unable to divert the bouncing ball wide.
Inverness might have crumbled with Hearts looking strong at that stage but Doran showed his value to nip possession from Don Cowie and neatly finish to put the home side ahead once more.
Hearts piled forward in response and the introduction of Tony Watt sparked a number of chances.
One counted when he teed-up Djoum to hit a sweet low shot across MacKay into the corner.
Faycal Rherras' cross bounced beyond the helpess Cammy MacKay to bring Hearts level at 2-2
Case for defence v attacking desire
It's hard to be critical of either side after such a thrilling contest but better defending from either might have secured three points.
Hearts head coach Robbie Neilson dropped Watt and Connor Sammon in favour of Johnsen and Jamie Walker to address a lack of punch up-front.
It was slackness at the back that cost them the win.
Raven was allowed too much space for the opener, Doumbouya even more so for the second and Cowie ought to have dealt with it before Doran pounced for Inverness' third.
Offensively, Hearts were increasingly effective and that will encourage Neilson.
For the second game running, though, Hearts had the possibility to finish the day in second place. Once again, it was an opportunity they failed to take.
The home side had to be resolute at the back as the game wore on and did well to hold out at times.
But when comfortable at 2-0 the defence seemed to switch off, allowing Johnsen to get Hearts back into it - perhaps Josh Meekings slipped, allowing the striker space. Either way, had they held firm for longer it may have been a more comfortable route to victory.
Hearts' second was unfortunate with MacKay caught between a rock and a hard place as the ball came in.
The hosts did hold firm with Hearts pushing on for long periods in the second half before Djoum netted.
In the end, both sides merited something given their intent to go forward and deserve enormous credit for delivering a fabulously entertaining 90 minutes.