Alim Ozturk earns the praise of Hearts boss Robbie Neilson

Hearts boss Robbie Neilson praised Alim Ozturk after the centre-back refused to sulk as he helped Jambos claim a point against Ross County.

The Dutch-born Turk has found himself out of favour this term, with Neilson preferring John Souttar and Igor Rossi at the heart of his defence.

And Ozturk has dropped so far down the Gorgie pecking order he was even stripped of the club captaincy, with Perry Kitchen handed the armband instead.

And to make matters worse for the 23-year-old, plans to extend his contract beyond next summer have now been shelved as Hearts re-consider their options.

But it was with a sense of heavy irony that Neilson had to turn to the defender half an hour into Saturday's 0-0 draw with County after Souttar pulled up with a dead leg.

Ozturk, though, put on a committed display to help his side claim a result at Tynecastle.

It shows his professionalism,'' said Neilson.He's had a difficult week but he's trained really well and his head has been right.

You can see that from his performance when he came on.

He's focused and wants to do well.''

Neilson was more frustrated with his side's inability to kill off Jim McIntyre's Staggies.

County keeper Scott Fox pulled off a string of first-class saves to keep his side in the match - with a block against Conor Sammon and reflex stop down to his right from a Rossi header the highlights in particular.

Both sides hit the woodwork, with the visitors unlucky to see Andrew Davies' header bounce down off the bar but not cross the line midway through the first period, while Hearts winger Sam Nicholson thudded the right-hand post nine minutes after the restart.

But even after seeing Dingwall midfielder Ian McShane dismissed following two quick-fire bookings with six minutes left, the Gorgie men could not take advantage.

Neilson - who side now slip five points behind Ladbrokes Premiership leaders Celtic following last weekend's defeat at St Johnstone - said: Again it was disappointing. I thought first half especially we played really well and created a lot of chances.

But similar to last week against St Johnstone we didn't have that final touch at the end.

That's the disappointment. The positive thing was the chances we made. We're dominating large periods of games and giving up very, very few chances at the other end.

It just bodes well that once it does click we'll start picking up more points than we are at moment.''

McIntyre blasted his side's luck after Davies' chance stayed out and admits County will have to step up their game after adding another draw to the stalemates they recently registered against Rangers and Motherwell.

He said: Davies' chance is not over the line, it's a good call from the linesman. It's a glorious chance for us to take the lead, Dav has done just about everything right - it's just a matter of centimetres and it's in the back of the net.

But we showed a lot of discipline when we were defending in numbers at times.

However, we also know we can't keep drawing games. That's three games in a row. The boys deserve credit for the last two, but equally we want to make sure we're getting the three points. That's what takes you up the table quicker.''