Trialist on the bench, fan appreciation for Hearts ace, eager officiating - 6 moments you may have missed from Hearts 2-2 Crawley Town

Here are six things you may have missed from Hearts’ 2-2 pre-season draw with Crawley Town.

Kye Rowles on the bench

For those wondering who the trialist was in the Hearts matchday squad, it was the Australian centre-back who has finally arrived in Edinburgh following a red-tape delay over his move from Central Coast Mariners. Having travelled a lot of the last couple of days, Robbie Neilson didn’t want the summer signing to start but was keen for him to experience the matchday squad. The club expect his transfer to be fully registered next week.

The Jorge Grant-Stephen Kingsley connection

Stephen Kingsley is all smiles after scoring his second goal of the game for Hearts. Picture: SNS

Hearts scored their second goal through Kingsley attacking Grant’s corner. The same result almost occurred again in the second period with Kingsley missing a guilt-edge chance to net a hat-trick from another Grant set-piece.

Kingsley showed last season that, in addition to his prowess from free-kicks, he’s also a threat in the opposing penalty area. Despite netting seven times last term, it’s not inconceivable he could match or even score more this campaign as he’ll now not be required to take as many deliveries himself and can get himself in the penalty box.

Caught out by carbon copy

The most disappointing aspect of the first Crawley goal was that Hearts received an exact warning just a couple of minutes before. It was an inswinging delivery from the left over to the back post. And twice Hearts failed to deal with it. Andy Halliday didn’t cover himself in glory on either occasion, though he was far from the only player from the Hearts side who didn’t take to the second period with the same intensity which characterised the first half showing.

Lewis Neilson’s almost-flawless showing

Dom Telford netted both goals for the visitors. The striker was the League Two top goalscorer last term and Crawley brought him in from Newport County to try and spearhead a promotion push.

On the evidence of Saturday’s match he certainly looks the man for the job. His second goal was an excellent finish, bending it beyond Neilson and Craig Gordon to level the scores. Neilson will be disappointed that Telford managed to score, having been able to recover, get himself goal-side and squared up to the attacker. Although, the youngster, signed from Dundee United, impressed in every other aspect of the game.

When he first joined from Tannadice it was presumed he’d be one for the future rather than the present, but he’s doing his chances of being involved regularly after pre-season no harm with his play so far.

Fans loving Barrie McKay

Hearts made four changes in one substitution after Crawley had equalised and it was perhaps no surprise that the biggest cheer was reserved for the winger who dazzled the crowd so often last term. He almost produced his usual wizardry as well, unfortunately seeing a couple of his crosses – including a gorgeous outside-of-the-foot effort for Liam Boyce – cleared at the last second.

Referee’s eagerness to end

With the ball out of play and Michael Smith down and, if the match had continued, probably required a bit of attention from the physio, the match official just decided to end things with 15 seconds still to go before the 90 minutes were up.

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