The ten men of Hearts B settled for a point in their 2-2 draw against Clydebank at Holm Park in the Lowland League on Saturday afternoon.
The Wee Jambos were 2-0 up at half-time courtesy of Tommy North and Taylor Hogarth.
But a Gregor Crookston own goal got the hosts back in it for 2-1 in the second 45, before Neil McLaughlin scored a 95th minute equaliser as the points were shared in Clydebank.
Angus Beith made three changes from Tuesday night’s 2-2 draw against Civil Service Strollers. Gregor Crookston, Lucas Smith and Taylor Hogarth all returned to the starting XI.
Hearts impressed in the first half as they started brightly and looked threatening going forward, while the likes of Kai Smutek in the Jambos defence won several headers in the box to thwart Clydebank in attack.
The Jam Tarts opened the scoring in the 5th minute. Striker Tommy North pounced on a slack pass in defence, and he drove into the box and slotted home into the bottom right corner for 1-0.
Taylor Hogarth made it 2-0 in the 18th minute as he arrived at the front post to meet a brilliant low cross from Aiden Haddow and fired home from close range, and it was no less than Hearts deserved.
The Bankies then came forward with a few decent opportunities to get themselves back into the game.
Aaron Black fired a ball to the back post and it could have caught out Hearts goalkeeper Lyndon Tas, but he showed some good improvisation to tip it over the bar.
Just before the break, Black dribbled down the left and cut inside into the box before letting fly on his right foot aiming for the bottom left corner, but Tas got down well to deny him.
Half-time: Clydebank 0-2 Hearts
Hearts looked to continue their good work in the second 45.
Tommy North took on two Clydebank players before setting Connor Dow in behind the defence, but his pass was too heavy in the end as Dow was unable to reach it.
Clydebank then pulled a goal back on 51 minutes. The ball was fired low into the box from the right hand side and it took an unfortunate deflection off of Gregor Crookston into the net for 1-2.
The hosts continued to look threatening going forward. In the 53rd minute, the ball was crossed in from the left and Black swung a boot at it from six yards, but it was blocked well by the Hearts defence and it was eventually cleared.
In the 72nd minute, Hearts were reduced to 10 after Gregor Crookston was shown a straight red card.
The Jambos would have to weather the storm as Clydebank continued to pile on the pressure.
On 77 minutes, Grant hit a first time volley in the box that went narrowly wide of the target.
The hosts got their equaliser deep into added time.
In the 95th minute, the ball was fizzed in from the left and substitute Neil McLaughlin arrived to slot the ball into the bottom right corner for 2-2.
Despite a spirited showing, the Wee Jambos left Clydebank with a point in the end.
Speaking to the Official Hearts Website at full-time, Angus Beith said:
“We started the game brilliantly and had a real good energy about us. For the first, obviously we nicked it high and Tommy scores, and then the second goal was brilliant. It was a great ball from Aiden and Taylor getting in at the back post, so the start was brilliant.
“We defended the box, corners, those sorts of situations terrifically, and we just reinforced at half-time that it was going to take another big effort from everybody. “The big focus this week was defending for our lives and doing it better, especially in our box, and we really showed that today. We obviously then had the circumstance where we get a man sent off and we go down, or we'd not go down, obviously we seemed to go 2-1 up early on, which was disappointing. You're not fearing the worst, but the boys are up against it here, this sort of atmosphere as well, against a good team and every single one of them, to a man, stood up to that and defended the box brilliantly.
“I'm gutted we didn't get the win because I felt like they deserved it for how they defended and how together they were and how much they cared for each other. My overwhelming feeling is pride.”
Beith was pleased with the impact of Lucas Smith who slotted in at left full-back, and said that Taylor Hogarth has the opportunity to continue to impress in maroon.
“Lucas has been chipping away in training and I felt like he deserved an opportunity to come in and although he's played the majority of games recently at centre half, he's equally capable at left back and he did really well.
“Taylor's going to get a run in the team, no doubt, because Matty (Gillies) and Gus (Stevenson) have gone out on loan and Dom (Plank) is away too. So I’m really looking forward to seeing how he impacts across the next few weeks. He started well today with a real hardworking performance and grit to get that goal as well.”
Clydebank: Stott, Hodge, Carey, Niven, Gallacher, Cairns, Little ©, Samson, McGowan, Black, Low
Subs: Clarke, Johnstone, Mulcahy, McLaughlin, Truesdale, Grant, Preston
Hearts: Tas, Crookston, Smutek ©, Smith (James, 70’), Osborne, Dow (Ross, 83’), Haddow (Glasgow, 70’), Muirhead, Hogarth, Wilson, North (Robb, 88’)
Subs: MacDonald, James, Ross, Glasgow, Robb
