Ross County 0-0 Heart of Midlothian: Visitors go 10 league games without a win

Hearts' position in the Scottish Premiership remains precarious as they went a 10th league game without a win after a goalless draw with Ross County.

Daniel Stendel's side do, though, edge a point closer to 11th place and are now four adrift of Hamilton Academical.

New Hearts signing Donis Avdjaji passed up a golden chance to score on his debut in Dingwall, slipping at the vital moment.

But many of the best chances fell to hosts County.

It leaves German Stendel, who steered his side to their first win under his tutelage in the Scottish Cup on Saturday, still looking for his first league success since taking charge in December.

County lost ground on the top six, falling six points behind Hibernian, while they are just four points clear of the relegation play-offs.

• Reaction & how it happened

Lack of composure

Hearts had picked up rare win in Saturday's 5-0 Scottish Cup win over Airdrieonians, but they arrived in the Highlands still in desperate need of points after just one from Stendel's opening five games.

They were buoyed by the new signing of Kosovo forward Avdijaj. County, too, had new recruit Oli Shaw in their squad, though elected to start the ex-Hibs man on the bench as they looked to bounce back from Saturday's cup exit at the hands of Ayr United.

And the hosts could maybe have done with the 21-year-old being on the end of their early chances as Hearts defensive frailties that have plagued much of their season continued.

County forward Billy Mckay broke through the middle and shot straight at goalkeeper Joel Pereira. Blair Spittal headed over after a training ground move at a free-kick gave him a free header in the box. And McKay almost sneaked the ball in after taking advantage of Pereira and John Souttar's mix-up.

The hosts were kicking themselves for not taking at least one of the opportunities. Hearts began to retain more of the ball but offered little potency up front with it. It took until nearly the hour mark for a first shot at goal, a high scooped effort from Conor Washington.

Avdijaj spurned an opportunity for a debut goal when Steven Naismith burrowed into the box and cut the ball back for him. He just needed to add the finish but instead his feet went from under him.

Stendel responded with a double substitution, and within moments of their introduction Uche Ikpeazu and Euan Henderson combined down the right before Washington was inches from connecting with a cross.

As Hearts enjoyed their best spell of pressure Ben Garuccio clipped a shot wide, but then it was County's turn to switch things up with the introduction of Shaw and Harry Paton and the momentum swung to the hosts.

A delightful move passing move from County opened up the chance for Lee Erwin, but he fired against the goalkeeper's legs when he really should have finished.

Neither side wished to settle for a draw and there were half opportunities at both ends, but both sides lacked the composure to conjure up a winner.

Man of the match - Josh Mullin

BBC Scotland's Eilidh Davies at the Global Energy Stadium

Josh Mullin put in a really decent shift for the hosts covering a lot of ground as he continued to get himself into good positions throughout.

The winger was very effective down the right. He sent a number of crosses into the box, several of which could have led to the breakthrough for the home side.

His pace and energy was indicative of a County team who clearly had something to prove following Saturday's defeat to Ayr.

'We need wins' - reaction

Ross County co-manager Steven Ferguson: "We're really happy with the reaction, but we're disappointed to only take one point and I think our efforts deserved the three.

"The big games just keep coming and there's no hiding from it. If we can play like we did tonight for the rest of the season then we'll give ourselves a chance of staying in this league."

Hearts manager Daniel Stendel: "I'm a little bit disappointed because I think we had chances to win. We have so much more potential than we played.

"One point is no defeat, unbeaten in 2020, and we go on our way. It's not an easy situation. We know that we have enough games, but we have to start to win games. We need wins."