Hearts 2 Dundee United 1

Feb 21 2011 By Craig Swan

DEVASTATED Dusan Pernis said sorry for the blunder that got Hearts out of jail - and had his agony doubled when fellow Slovak Marian Kello walked off the park as Hearts' hero. The two keepers emerged from the showdown in hugely contrasting moods after a pulsating 90 minutes at Tynecastle.

Kello was mobbed by his team-mates after his stunning injury-time penalty save from David Goodwillie which capped off a fantastic finale to the contest and kept the points in the capital.

Pernis, on the other hand, slumped back towards the opposite dressing room in despair with his mind racing over the incident that turned the game.

Dundee United's sparkling youngsters had strolled into the intimidating arena without a shred of fear and swaggered through the first period.

As ref Calum Murray checked his watch ahead of the half-time whistle, Peter Houston's boys were full of confidence and leading 1-0 after Goodwillie's dinked cross was looped into the net by a combination of the head of Barry Douglas and the boot of the backtracking Eggert Jonsson. Hearts simply hadn't turned up and were getting ready for a half-time scalding from boss Jim Jefferies when Stephen Elliott angled a shot towards Pernis.

The strike from the edge of the box was on target although it was killing worm after worm as it dribbled along the surface to the keeper. It should have been an easy smother for Pernis but he made a meal of it and clumsily spilled the effort on to his own six-yard line.

Defender Timothy van der Meulen, who had come on seconds earlier for the crocked Garry Kenneth, was caught cold and his attempt to clean up the mess clattered against Rudi Skacel and crashed into the net.

Hearts celebrated knowing that, somehow, they had escaped the opening 45 minutes on level terms.

Pernis stared at his boots knowing that, somehow, he had let United's good first-half work slip away.

The gutted keeper said: "The ball was bouncing as it came to me and there was a little bobble just as it arrived because the six-yard box has new grass.

"I had just a little touch. It was my mistake and I had to apologise to the team."

Lifted from the canvas, Hearts were far better in the second period but United doggedly hung in and caused plenty of problems on the counter.

With just a couple of minutes remaining it was heading for a draw and neither manager would have had any reason to whinge at that outcome. But in 88 minutes Houston winced as Douglas conceded a corner, van der Meulen lost his man and Hearts skipper Marius Zaliukas rose like the price of petrol to meet sub Craig Thomson's corner to thunder hom almost unhinged then netting. Pernis couldn't have stopped it but still the first-half error nagged at him. If the full-time exchange with his opposite number promised to be unpleasant, it then became almost unbearable seconds later when a staggering late twist concluded the contest.

Hearts were still celebrating when Ian Black stumbled and United's Paul Dixon pounced to dink a ball over the home backline. Midfielder David Robertson was clean through and ready to pull the trigger when stop-gap full-back Ruben Palazuelos bundled him to the turf.

Murray had no hesitation and pointed to the spot before sending the shattered Spaniard off.

Goodwillie, hounded all day by the home fans with chants about his off-field behaviour, grabbed the ball eager to stuff the songs down the fans' throats but Kello then produced his party piece.

Murray immediately blew for full-time and, as the Hearts ace was carried shoulder high from the pitch, Pernis felt like crawling off.

He said: "In the last minute we missed the penalty and it is hard to believe this match. It's like a dark side for us.

"I was sure David would score but Kello produced a great save and Hearts won."

Taken from the Daily Record