Hearts were denied a winning start to their Conference League campaign in the cruellest fashion, as Nicklas Rojkjaer’s 86th-minute deflected strike snatched a point for Nordsjaelland at Tynecastle.
After an opening quarter-hour in which the visitors carried the greater threat, Hearts gradually asserted themselves.
The breakthrough arrived on 33 minutes. Calvin Miller’s corner was hooked into the air by Laurent Mendy, Jamie McCart nodded the loose ball goalwards and Oisin McEntee reacted quickest, stabbing home from four yards for his first European goal.
Hearts should have added a second before the interval. Claudio Braga fizzed a shot just over, while McEntee and Josh McPake were both denied by Nordsjaelland goalkeeper Andreas Hansen, who was fast emerging as the away side’s standout performer.
The second half followed a similar pattern of Hearts pressure without reward. McPake saw a low, curled effort tipped round the post by Hansen, before the winger spurned the game’s clearest opening a one-on-one chance that he sliced well wide under pressure.
At the other end, Beau Reus produced two fine second-half saves to keep Hearts in front, while Amoako continued to trouble the home defence down the left.
But with five minutes remaining, the resistance broke. Substitute Rojkjaer collected the ball at the edge of the box and his shot took a wicked deflection off McCart, wrongfooting Reus and nestling into the net.
Head coach Wouter Vrancken cut a frustrated figure post-match, lamenting his side’s failure to kill the game off.
“It had to be 2-0 or 3-0 at half-time,” he said. “Even in the second half, we had moments we have to exploit and do better. Then you kill the game, and you’re confident and comfortable.”
He also questioned the impact of his substitutes, noting: “I expected a bit more energy there, when you make substitutions. We lost energy instead of gaining it.”
This dropped point could prove costly in a campaign where nine points may be the benchmark for progression. For now, Hearts must regroup quickly. The performance, particularly in that dominant first half, offered plenty of encouragement. The result, though, will sting.