Ross County Manager Jim McIntyre: "We deserved our point at Hearts"

Ross County manager Jim McIntyre insisted a point was the least his side deserved in Saturday's 1-1 Premiership draw at Hearts.

The Staggies prevented the Gorgie outfit was from racking up a clean sweep of league wins when David Goodwillie, who is on loan from Aberdeen, came off the bench and headed in his first goal for the club two minutes from time.

Juanma had put Hearts in front just four minutes earlier in a game that burst to life in the dying stages.

There was little at stake in this game and that was mirrored by an uninspiring game of football for long spells.

But McIntyre, nonetheless, was pleased with his side's comeback.

He said: “It was a deserved draw, it would have been very sore if we hadn't taken anything.

“It wasn't the best game in the world to watch but there was plenty of toil and endeavour from both teams.

“We had the best chance to score first when Alex Schalk was denied by the Hearts keeper (Jack Hamilton) making a great save and you wonder if that will come back to bite you.

“Hearts are very strong at home but I thought we showed a great reaction to going behind by getting ourselves back level.

“The quality was poor, the pitch was difficult and you could see players slipping all over the place as the surface was brick hard, which didn't help.

“There was plenty of misplaced passes and both teams can produce much better quality.”

Goodwillie headed his first goal since notching a brace for Aberdeen in a 3-1 win at Tynecastle last September and McIntyre was pleased with his contribution.

He added: “I was absolutely thrilled for David to get the goal as he hasn't had a lot of game time.

“He scored the last time when he was here with Aberdeen so that was a bit in the back of my mind when he went on, so it was great to see him score.

“It's no more than we deserved as a team. The stats don't lie as they had beaten us three times this season and we had opportunities to get closer to them than it suggests, so we were determined to come here and get three points – but it wasn't to be.”

On the news that goalkeeper Scott Fox had signed a new contract - tying him to the club until summer 2018 - ahead of kick-off, McIntyre added: “Scott has been fantastic and he said he was happy to extend his deal and we were delighted.”

Hearts head coach Robbie Neilson, meanwhile, lamented his side's lack of cutting edge.

He said: “I was disappointed not to see the game out. We got ourselves in a winning position and gave away a slack goal.

“In the first half I thought we passed it alright but we got into good areas and didn't put the ball in the box.

“Second half it was much the same and the times we did do it, we caused them problems.

“We need to make sure, especially at Tynecastle, that we're causing teams more problems than we did today.

“The effort was there but it was just the quality. At this stage of the season I think both teams are starting to feel it a bit.”