Liam Fox hopes Lawrence Shankland’s 96th minute equaliser can spark Hearts ’ season to life – and signal lift-off for their goal-starved skipper.
Shankland finally ended his drought when he nodded home with just seconds left and with managerless Jambos looking destined for a ninth defeat on the stot. It wasn’t enough to lift the Tynecastle club off the bottom of the table as they still hunt their first win of the season after Ronan Hale’s stunning first half opener for County.
But caretaker boss Fox hopes it signals a turning point for the captain and the side. He said: “Nobody doubts Lawrence’s ability. He’s been on a difficult run but good strikers keep going and he got his reward for that. Ask any striker, they love scoring goals and if they don’t they can get down on themselves.
“I’ve not felt that from him this week. He kept going and got his rewards at the end. I’m not sitting here celebrating taking a point. What pleased me is we kept going, we kept playing forward.
“On the run we’ve had, it would have been easy to go into their shells but Lawrence came up with the goods at the end. When you play here you know the demand and we’re asking players to take more risks.
“I felt we created some good chances. When you’re on the run we’ve been on the confidence is low and you can’t just flick a switch.
“I only have the job for a few weeks and today is hopefully a step. Hopefully the way we came back today can be the start of that.”
Bringing booze back into Scottish grounds was back on the agenda for politicians this week – but unfortunately for Hearts the boos are an ever present at Tynecastle right now. And despite the late leveller they were back at full-time on another afternoon of frustration for the Gorgie faithful.
Despite banging repeatedly on County’s door in the second half it looked like they’d drawn another blank in a season where they’ve yet to lead a game at any stage.A Euro trip to face Dinamo Minsk is up next.
And Fox said: “We are disappointed with a point and we had to go to the 96th minute, but we fought through it. There’s no easy fix for it. I felt the disappointment in the changing room but we have to move forward now. We have a big week to look forward to and a good challenge.”