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Substitutes Rudi Skacel and Declan McManus combined to give Raith Rovers a late equaliser that forced a Scottish Cup fourth-round replay against Hearts.

The Premiership side were worthy of the lead established when Don Cowie set up Jamie Walker for a clinical finish.

Their Championship hosts responded after the break and Mark Stewart somehow contrived to fire against the crossbar from only four yards.

But McManus deflected in former Hearts midfielder Skacel's 89th-minute shot.

Rovers almost snatched victory in stoppage time, but goalkeeper Jack Hamilton parried Yves M'Voto's header off the line.

The Kirkcaldy side, led by former Hearts manager Gary Locke, have now gone 10 games without a win.

However, McManus' header means they will have another chance to progress to the fifth round when the sides meet in Wednesday's replay at Tynecastle.

Hearts still under repair

Ian Cathro, who became Hearts' latest head coach last month, has begun to re-shape his side and showed confidence in his four January signings by handing them all immediate starts.

With Faycal Rherras, along with midfielder Arnaud Djoum, absent because of Africa Cup of Nations duty, Igor Rossi having left for Al-Faisaly and Liam Smith dropped to the bench, only John Souttar remained from the back four that lost to Aberdeen on December 30.

Andraz Struna looked like the quality right-back you would expect from a Slovenian international fresh from playing in the Greek Superleague, Lennard Sowah was the strong if occasionally erratic left-back witnessed at Hamilton Accies, while Aaron Hughes had the composure of a Northern Ireland centurion despite his advancing years.

However, it was Malaury Martin, the former Middlesbrough midfielder previously with Lillestrom, who was the stand-out newcomer, full of composure, clever touches and probing crosses.

Yet Cathro's side - who have won once in six games under his charge - has yet to become more than the sum of its parts.

And it took two of the star turns he inherited to conjure a rare clear sight at goal and send the 4,000 travelling fans into rapturous applause as former Scotland midfielder Cowie threaded a pass through for Walker to slot his 11th goal of the season past goalkeeper Kevin Cuthbert.

Maybe lack of match fitness - Premiership sides are just back from a winter break - also began to take its toll, but the newly created defence began to creak after the half-time break and only Hamilton's quick reactions prevented an earlier equaliser and eventual winner for the hosts.

Rovers search for goals

Malaury Martin impressed on his Hearts debut

Rovers remain in the hunt for a promotion play-off place, but they have slipped to seventh and it is the relegation zone that will loom ever closer should they fail to reverse their recent slide in fortunes.

History did not suggest there was much prospect of their run of games without a win ending against visitors from the league above who had won on their last five visits to Stark's Park.

When Mark Stewart, handed a start up front in place of Ryan Hardie, fired against the crossbar from only four yards out when an equaliser looked certain, you could see why Locke's side had only scored three times in that run of nine previous games without a win.

Having rarely threatened until that point, the missed opportunity appeared to lift the weight of apprehension from the home side's shoulders and Ross Callachan and Iain Davidson both tested Hamilton before that late breakthrough.

It had to be Skacel

The preamble to the game had all the elements of a potential cup shock, with Locke, a player, coach and manager at Tynecastle, only one of several Hearts connections in the Rovers dressing-room.

Assistant Darren Jackson, midfielder Jason Thomson, full-back Kevin McHattie and cup-tied Ryan Stevenson were also former players with the Edinburgh club.

Then there's that man Skacel - twice a Scottish Cup winner in maroon.

The 37-year-old former Czech Republic midfielder has looked well past his sell-buy date since arriving from Mlada Boleslav last summer and again found himself dumped on the bench.

However, his one contribution was enough to provide McManus with the chance to keep alive Rovers' hopes of a first win over Hearts in 24 years.

Post-match reaction

Raith Rovers manager Gary Locke: "I felt we probably should have won the game. In the second half especially we were on the front foot a lot. We've had a wee blip in the last few games but there's a lot of quality in the dressing room so I'm delighted their efforts today got rewarded and on another day if we had taken our chances we could have won the game.

"I didn't just put Rudi [Skacel] on the pitch for sentiment, he's always a threat in and around the box. It was a great strike from him and Dec (McManus) has done great to get in front of the goalkeeper and nod it into the net."

Hearts head coach Ian Cathro: "It's okay. What's difficult, we've just to beat them again.

"I've just been informed we have to play the replay in midweek so we have to deal with it then.

"We were okay in the game, we could have played better but there's no need for an over-reaction. We don't have any doubts in our work, we just need to keep working."