Hearts manager Craig Levein believes Ryan Edwards "did himself no harm" on his long-awaited debut.
Edwards came on for the final quarter of Sunday's 1-1 draw with Hibernian, almost 11 months after joining the club from Partick Thistle.
The Australian midfielder failed to make an early impact at Tynecastle and was loaned to St Mirren for the first half of the season, and has continued to be patient since returning to Edinburgh in January.
But the 25-year-old showed good energy and urgency to help Hearts come from behind to claim a point at Easter Road.
Levein said: "Since he came back from St Mirren, our midfield has been pretty strong and he just hasn't had a look-in.
"But to be fair to him, he has worked really hard in training, played reserve games and done well. And I didn't think Connor Smith would last 90 minutes, he is an all-energy type player Connor, and the the idea was to use Ryan at some point if he did tire.
"He didn't do himself any harm at all."
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