New boss Rix blames hype as Hearts only manage a draw

Aberdeen 1 Hearts 1

Rix’s appointment as successor to George Burley has been shrouded in controversy, due mainly to the Englishman’s conviction in 1999 for having under-age sex with a 15-year-old girl.

In a move to pre-empt any possible trouble at the match the Jambos boss was flanked by two minders as he made his way along the trackside to the dug out before kick-off.

However, nothing untoward happened and the Englishman was subjected to only brief and sporadic taunts from the home fans during what was a frantic game.

Jamie Smith’s seventh goal of the season after 12 minutes gave the Dons a deserved half-time lead but the Edinburgh men rallied and Rudi Skacel’s deflected goal after 63 minutes, his 11th of the season, levelled the scores.

The former Portsmouth and Oxford boss was reluctant to discuss the reaction of some of the Aberdeen fans but said: “I’m glad it’s over and out of the way, although obviously we wanted to win the game.

“Maybe it was the international break, maybe it was the fact that they’ve got a new coach or maybe all the media hype that had gone with this game affected them. It probably looked that way in the first half but in the end I saw a lot of good things.”

However, Rix revealed he had to give his players their first dressing down of his tenure at the interval.

He said: “I wasn’t very happy with the players at half-time I can assure you of that. I don’t know if the players saw the real Graham Rix then but that’s my job.

“The first-half performance is difficult to explain and if we play like that at Motherwell next week we will be three or four down.

“We didn’t pass the ball well, we didn’t win any second balls, we were two yards off the pace with and without the ball and we looked lethargic.

“But I think the boys learned a lesson and the way we responded was what pleased me most. When I gave them information to hopefully change it they responded well.”

Aberdeen boss Jimmy Calderwood said: “I’ve got mixed feelings. I was pleased with the performance but not the result. Hearts are a big physical side and we got pushed around at Tynecastle the last time we played them but we never got pushed around this time. But all credit to Hearts for coming back. We had the best of the first half and got the goal and I think a point was the least we deserved.”

ABERDEEN: Esson, Hart (Dempsey 45), Anderson, Diamond (Considine 90), Byrne, Smith, Nicholson, Clark, Muirhead, Crawford, Mackie (Foster 85).

HEARTS: Gordon, Neilson, Pressley, Webster, Fyssas, Mikoliunas, Hartley, Brellier, Skacel, Pospisil (Elliot 45), Jankauskas (Cesnauskis 79).

Referee: C Thomson (Scotland).