Defensive display pleases Hearts boss Robbie Neilson after Aberdeen stalemate

Hearts manager Robbie Neilson has hailed the defensive display which saw his side keep a clean sheet in the goalless draw against Aberdeen on Saturday.

After a 3-2 defeat against St Johnstone midweek in the Betfred Cup, Neilson said that Hearts should not be needing four goals to beat a team away from home, but by the weekend he could be pleased that his side were able to mitigate Aberdeen's offensive qualities.

He said: I'm 100% pleased with the defensive reaction. A defender's job first and foremost is to stop people scoring goals. That's it. End of story.

On Wednesday night, Hearts should never have to go anywhere and score four goals to get a result. To come out today and get a reaction like that was great.''

The point earned against Aberdeen was Hearts' first of the season after defeat to Celtic at Tynecastle on the opening weekend of the campaign, and Neilson is happy with the progress his side is making.

Last Sunday I thought we performed really well and didn't take anything from the game,'' he said.Even on Wednesday night, for 75 minutes we played well then lost two bad goals.

Against Aberdeen, the first half wasn't to the level we want to get, the second half was better, but there wasn't a lot of football played because the two teams are so evenly matched.

As soon as somebody gets on the ball there's pressure on them and it's difficult to play.

Aberdeen had the better of the first half and we had the better of the second half. It was quite an even game, two teams that are well matched with each other.''

Aberdeen manager Derek McInnes believed his side did enough to take all three points from the game.

He said: There is normally goals in these games but from our point of view we were clearly the best side. We moved the ball about well enough but we needed to make more from that bright play in the first half.

We played between the lines, we played with pace and Niall McGinn, Wes Burns and Peter Pawlett showed good movement and a good appetite for the game.

We need fresh minds and fresh legs. We are missing Jonny Hayes, that's clear but there are players who have kept going to the wall and it's not there.''