MOGGA'D THEN MUGGED

HIBS 2

HEARTS 2

HIBS ended a week of hell as they were robbed of three points after West Brom mugged them for their manager.

The Easter Road matchday programme told us in a memory lane feature that Arthur Conan Doyle was a 19th century Hibee, but you didn't need Sherlock Holmes to point out the culprit who caused their latest derby dismay against Hearts.

Hapless keeper Zibi Malkowski was guilty of costing his side victory as sure as if he had been found with a smoking gun in his glove bag.

The body of evidence had been gathered over 93 absorbing minutes as Hearts, who finished the game with 10 men, came from two goals down to record an unlikely draw.

This was the second time this year Malkowski has been found culpable against the Gorgie side after his errorstrewn performance cost his side a 4-0 defeat in the Scottish Cup semi-final at Hampden last season.

Ultimately, this latest contest exposed the gulf in class between two keepers as Craig Gordon threw himself brilliantly to his left deep into injury time to claw a Rob Jones header to safety and preserve his side's point.

Hibs had dominated so much of the play but the Hearts keeper was rarely called on until those heroics in the closing stages highlighted his mental sharpness and secured the draw.

Malkowski, on the other hand, made two dreadful howlers to hand battling Hearts a point they scarcely merited but which in the end was greeted like a moral victory by their joyous fans.

In the absence of Tony Mowbray, who will be paraded as new gaffer at West Brom on Wednesday, Hibs were under the charge of assistant Mark Venus and he had home fans orbiting dreamland as they stormed into a twogoal lead within 15 minutes.

But Malkowski handed Hearts a lifeline when he fluffed a Lee Wallace cross from the left and Andrius Velicka netted with a header, before the Lithuanian striker grabbed the equaliser with a second-half volley the Polish No.1 should have blocked at his front post.

The comeback was all the more sensational as Hearts were down to 10 men following another bout of indiscipline by Saulius Mikoliunas. He was sent off in 58 minutes for the third time in his Hearts career for a clumsy trip on Ivan Sproule after a first-half caution for clattering Kevin Thomson.

Not even the most diehard Jambo could have had any sympathy with the Lithuanian midfielder, who should have been dismissed four minutes before half-time for stamping on Dave Murphy after another hefty tackle had floored the Hibs full-back.

In addition to the two yellows dished out to Mikoliunas, referee Charlie Richmond handed out another eight cautions and it could have been more as tempers simmered and occasionally boiled over in a spine-tingling atmosphere.

Hearts left Easter Road grateful for the point that takes them a step closer to Celtic and further away from Rangers at the top of the SPL, although the Hoops were the greatest benefactors as they now sit five points clear in the table after what could turn out to be one of the most significant weekends of the championship.

Venus took the applause from Hibs fans at the end in a manner that suggests he'll be teaming up with Mowbray later this week while, behind him, Malkowski skulked towards the tunnel.

At the other end, Gordon was mobbed by his team-mates following his stunning stop and although they did not play well and their midfield was often posted missing, there was something heroic about the way Hearts hung in. They defended doggedly, with Steven Pressley and Christophe Berra inspirational for a team that continues to play a dangerous game of squad rotation, with four changes from the side that had beaten Dundee United 4-0 a fortnight earlier.

Hearts started nervously, especially in midfield where the ball-winning skills of Bruno Aguiar and Julien Brellier were sorely missed against the pacy, inventive play of Thomson, Merouane Zemmama, Michael Stewart, Sproule and Scott Brown.

Hibs took the lead after only four minutes when Sproule burst clear of Wallace down the right wing and his pass inside the 18-yard box fell to Stewart who in turn fed Chris Killen lurking around the penalty spot.

He played a pass out to Zemmama, who brilliantly drew Pressley and Ibrahim Tall before pokingthe ball past Gordon with the help of a post.

There were shades of his red-card offence against Andriy Shevchenko in Ukraine four days earlier when Pressley hauled down Brown as the midfielder charged towards goal moments later but Richmond only flashed a yellow.

Soon afterwardsMikoliunas joined his skipper in the book for that dreadful tackle on Thomson but worse was to follow when Hibs went two in front in 15 minutes.

Zemmama threw over a corner from the left and Killen knocked a header towards goal, which Brown gratefully helped on its way from two yards.

However, in the 27th minute calamity keeper Malkowski handed Hearts an entry ticket to a match in which they had been virtual spectators.

There seemed little danger when Pressley nudged a short free-kick wide left toWallace butMalkowski made a dreadful error of judgment to race to the edge of his area and Velicka nipped in to send a looping header over his head and into the net.

The goal knocked much of the confidence from Hibs and Richmond cautioned Sproule, Zemmama and Thomson as tempers frayed.

Mikoliunas was fortunate not to be given an immediate red when he went in late again, on Murphy, and appeared to stamp on him with some malice.

However, justice was served early in the second half when Mikoliunas was sent packing for a second booking, a bad tempered chop at Sproule.

Revenge was sweet for Sproule, redcarded for a foul on Mikoliunas in the Scottish Cup semi-final last season, and to make matters worse the Hearts bench were on the verge of replacing their man with Mirsad Beslija when he displayed his shocking indiscipline.

Hearts were hanging in as Sproule and Stewart came close to adding a decisive third but amazingly the next goal arrived out of nothing for Hearts.

Paul Hartley sent a raking pass down the inside-left channel for Velicka to chase.

He lashed a left-foot volley towards the bottom of the keeper's right-hand post and no one looked more astonished than the striker to find it fly under the arm of Malkowski.

Hearts almost added a third on the break as Beslija, a replacement for Jamie Mole, fired into the side net, but it was the visitors who were defending deep and repelling waves of attack. They did it splendidly and although Sproule had decent penalty appeals turned away after falling under a challenge from Gordon, the keeper was rarely troubled.

However, the Scotland star proved his worth in the second minute of injury time when he threw out that long arm to divert the goal-bound header from Jones - and moments later he was using it to punch the air in glee as his side claimed a crucial point.

MAN OF THE MATCH Merouane Zemmama (Hibs)

Taken from the Daily Record