Hearts 1-1 Aberdeen: Hosts stay bottom as draw dents Dons title bid

Despite Aberdeen and Hearts’ wildly contrasting domestic campaigns so far, some Dons fans were far from hopeful heading to Tynecastle and maybe with good reason – they haven’t tasted victory there since 2017.

Hearts did enjoy a better opening period, but injuries to Kingsley and Kent silenced the home fans and soon it was the away end rocking when Clarkson scored.

The former Liverpool midfielder almost had a second just before the break, but Craig Gordon was at full stretch to deny him.

Aberdeen had to deal with an injury of their own as goalkeeper Dimitar Mitov was replaced at the break, and substitute stopper Ross Doohan’s first real action was picking the ball out of his net.

Blair Spittal’s cross was nodded towards goal by Drammeh – the young Spaniard making his first start for the club – and the ball deflected in via the chest of Devlin.

The Dons skipper made amends by denying a certain Hearts goal late on. A long ball into the box broke kindly for substitute Jorge Grant and with the goal at his mercy, Devlin somehow got his body in the way.

While that Aberdeen defending was valiant, they got lucky when Jack Milne was not shown a red card for his lunge on Beni Baningime, which left the Hearts midfielder crumpled on the deck. After a VAR check, Kevin Clancy was told to play on.

Grant had one final chance to win it, collecting a cross at the back post and volleying at goal, but Doohan produced a fine save to ensure Aberdeen left with a point.