YOU'RE A DIDDY ZIBI

HIBS 2

HEARTS 2

ROB JONES last night slaughtered Zibi Malkowski after the cock-up keeper tossed away Hibs' chance of victory in a powderkeg Edinburgh derby.

The Pole, who threw his gloves into the crowd at the final whistle, was twice badly at fault as Hibs squandered a two-goal advantage against 10-man Hearts.

Referee Charlie Richmond brandished eight yellow cards and dismissed Saulius Mikoliunas for two bookable offences as Hearts came from behind to salvage a draw at Easter Road.

Mikoliunas, who has now been sent off three times in his Hearts career, could also face a further SFA rap after TV replays appeared to show him deliberately kicking David Murphy on the head.

Jones was gutted at Hibs' inability to close out the match and laid the blame squarely at the feet of the Malkowski.

Jones said: "We're disappointed at the way the goals came about. It was two mistakes and they were avoidable. When you gift a team two goals like that you don't deserve to take anything at all.

"I was a yard inside our box at the first goal and a keeper should never come out there. You just let your centre-halves deal with it and I had the situation under control.

"I remember feeling his arm across my head. I went to head the ball and got a whack. I thought it was their centre forward, but it was my own keeper.

"He's come for the ball and if he wins it then it's well done Zibi, but he missed it and they score an open goal.Hopefully it won't happen again.

"Their second looked a yard offside but it wasn't given. It was a good strike but the golden rule is that your keeper should never be beaten at the near post.

"I didn't speak to him after the match as I get dressed a long, long way away from Zibi."

Early goals from Merouane Zemmama and Scott Brown put Hibs in the driving seat, before a brace from Andruis Velicka earned the visitors a share of the spoils.

Jones was convinced he'd won it for Hibs in injury time only for Craig Gordon to deny him with a miraculous one-handed stop. Jones said: "At 2-0 we should have killed the game but maybe we got caught up in the emotion of it all.

"There were three points for the taking and we gifted them away.

"I thought I'd done it and I was getting ready to celebrate. I headed the ball towards the corner and I 'd have put my house on it going in.

"But it was a fantastic save and it's not the first time he's done it."

Caretaker boss Mark Venus was also less than complimentary about Malkowski.

Venus, who ruled himself out of taking the Hibs job on a permanent basis and is expected to link up with Tony Mowbray at West Brom this week, said: "I hope he can prove himself at the club but he doesn't make things easy for himself.

"Anyone who knows anything about football knows it was a poor decision. The second goal also came about as a result of errors, but they were not just the keeper's.

"Conceding slack goals has been a trait of our time at the club. It's one of the reasons why we're not winning silverware."

Steven Pressley was delighted to come away with a draw which took Hearts to within five points of leaders Celtic. The Hearts skipper said: "At 2-0 the supporters probably feared the worst so this feels more like a win.

"We are trying our best to sustain a challenge to Celtic but it might mean we need favours from the other teams."

Tynecastle boss Valdas Ivanuaskas said: "We had no positive aggression in the first half and there were a lot of players playing in their first derby which made it difficult.

"But we showed a lot of spirit after going 2-0 down and it was a great effort to get a draw.

"The red card was not clever by Saulius because he knew he had already been booked. I was trying to replace him but I was 30 seconds too late.

"We do have a problem with our discipline, but only a small one."

Taken from the Daily Record