Hearts 2 Dundee United 1

Feb 20 2011 Mark Guidi, Sunday Mail

PENALTY king Marian Kello made his third spot-kick save of the season to seal victory in a thrilling finale.

It looked like United would snatch a point in the dying seconds when Ruben Palazuelos was sent off for fouling David Robertson.

But Hearts keeper Kello denied David Goodwillie to preserve his 100 per cent penalty record this term.

The Slovakian saved from Jon Daly when United drew 1-1 at Tynecastle back in August then frustrated Hamilton's Simon Mensing during a 2-0 win in November.

And yesterday's stop from Goodwillie sealed a comeback victory after Rudi Skacel and Marius Zaliukas had cancelled out Barry Douglas' opener.

United must be sick of Kello as the keeper has now made three penalty saves against them.

He also kept out Danny Cadamarteri's effort in a scoreless draw back in 2009 - but this block was his most important yet.

It sent the Jambos 25 points clear of United and 18 ahead of fourth placed Kilmarnock.

Jim Jefferies' men now look certs to seal third spot and the Hearts boss was thrilled with Kello's heroics.

He said: "Marian saved a penalty at that same end of Tynecastle in the win over Hamilton. This was another good stop."

The penalty was awarded after Zaliukas had headed Hearts in front with just a minute left.

And Jefferies challenged the stopper to chip in with more goals.

He said: "Zaliukas is good in the air and has a fine spring. I've told him he should be scoring more."

The Lithuanian was pleased to break his duck for the campaign and now wants to nail down third place.

Zaliukas said: "That was my first of the season and it came at a nice moment. If we can take seven points from our next three games, or even five points, we'll be safe for third."

There was more misery for Tannadice boss Peter Houston when defender Garry Kenneth left the stadium on crutches after suffering a knee injury.

He will be out for three weeks which could see him miss six games as Arabs battle through a backlog.

Yet it all looked so promising for Houston when his side took the lead after just six minutes.

Goodwillie's cross into the box was met by Douglas and he guided a header past Kello.

With Craig Conway injured, Douglas played wide on the left and got through a power of work in the first half. However, his dead-ball deliveries missed the mark too often after the break.

The main Hearts threat came from the combinations of Skacel and Stephen Elliott.

Irish striker Elliott tried his luck from 18 yards after the opener and saw his effort fly inches wide.

Hearts had plenty of the ball as they searched for an equaliser but their passing was sloppy. However, Dusan Pernis had to save from Skacel after Kenneth lost possession.

The stopper limped off just before the break, joining Hearts full-back Lee Wallace in the treatment room.

There were four minutes of injury time as a result - and Skacel grabbed the leveller during this period.

Pernis couldn't hold Elliott's shot and the ball spilled into the six-yard box where Skacel slid home.

Prince Buaben should have fired United back in front after the break when he beat the offside trap.

The midfielder was clean through on Kello but failed to hit the target from eight yards.

Buaben then cracked a 35-yard strike just wide after United sub Timothy van der Meulen had seen a 20-yarder whistle over.

Sean Dillon defended well for the Arabs but couldn't stop Hearts carving out a great chance with six minutes to go.

The ball fell to sub Andy Driver eight yards out but his shot was blocked on the line by van der Meulen. The rebound came back to the winger and this time he was denied by Pernis. Hearts were pushing hard for a winner now and Douglas had to clear off the line from Elliot's header.

From the corner, Zaliukas got above van der Meulen and bulleted home a header from eight yards.

There was more drama to come as Palazuelos was rightly red-carded for hauling down Robertson when he was set to pull the trigger.

Goodwillie stepped up but Kello flew to his left to parry. The striker reached the rebound but failed to get his second effort on target.

Tynecastle erupted and the home fans soon got the chance to acclaim a well-deserved victory.

United were left to reflect on more penalty pain but Houston refused to blame Goodwillie for the defeat.

The striker took plenty of verbal abuse from Jambos fans after recent events in his private life.

But Houston insisted that didn't trouble the 21-year-old.

He said: "David has missed penalties before. He has always been brave enough to step forward and take them. It was a good save from the keeper rather than a bad miss.

"David did take a bit of stick. Every fan in Scotland will be having a go at him and he'll need to handle it."

Taken from the Daily Record