Partick Thistle were looking for their first home win of the season and Hearts for their first away, but after a tense, exciting and hard fought game they had to settle for a share of the points.
Thistle were the stonger side and seemed to have a greater appetite for the game. And in the 10th minute, the Thistle fans and players thought they should have had a penalty kick, when Scott McLean appeared to be pulled down by Kevin McKenna but instead Referee Brines awarded a free kick to the visitors.
In the 16th minute Thistle keeper Kenny Arthur fumbled and dropped a Steven Pressley freekick and was relived to see Alan Archibald clear from the feet of Mark De Vries.
Thistle took a deserved lead in the 27th minute when Archibald, playing in his 200th competitive game for Thistle, fired home an unstoppable 25 yard shot.
In the 37th minute, Hearts were awarded a free kick when a rash tackle by Alex Burns on Alan Maybury gained Burns a yellow card. And from 35 yards out Jean Louis Valois fired in an unstoppable shot that saw Arthur being hit by the ball rebounding from the net before he had chance to move.
Thistle re-took the lead in the 78th minute when Archibald fired in a right foot shot from 25 yards out after the Hearts defence had failed to clear the ball.
Within a minute, Hearts were back on level terms after Arthur had touched over a De Vries shot. From the resulting Valois corner Scott Severin rose unchallenged to head home from close range.
Both sides fought for the goal to give them all three points, but solid defending saw the game end in a draw.
HASH(0x9383710)