Aberdeen boss Derek McInnes praised Hearts for a resolute defensive effort, but felt his side lacked a cutting edge in the draw.

Hearts withstood a second-half onslaught from the home side to claim a club record sixth consecutive clean sheet.

Goalkeeper Jon McLaughlin produced a stunning stop to deny Adam Rooney that McInnes believed was as good as it gets.

He said: "The goalkeeper's save from Adam Rooney is as good as you'll see.

"You can see why Hearts have conceded so few goals and had so many clean sheets.

"They defend resiliently and were set up to be a counter-attacking team.

"The opportunities they had on the counter were more to do with us not playing in the right areas.

"Once we addressed that in the second half, I thought we controlled the game and were guilty of not hitting the back of the net.

"I thought Hearts came for a point and a mixture of their resilient defending, their goalkeeper, and us not having the last pass or shot has meant the game has been 0-0.

"Sometimes you get frustrated with that, but the players did everything we asked of them except score a goal."

Jam Tarts striker Kyle Lafferty saw red for a wild lunge at Graeme Shinnie which McInnes felt was indefensible.

He added: "A manager will always defend his player but I don't think that can be defended.

"I'm not sure if both feet were off the ground, but his intention was to bring Graeme Shinnie down rather than win the ball."

Hearts boss Craig Levein, though, insisted: "He's chasing back and if you're in a chasing position like that, coming back, you leave yourself open.

"I thought it was really harsh because seeing it back he's only just missed the ball. It's a particularly sour note for him going into the winter break."