Goalkeeper steals glory from Marius

Moments earlier Marius Zaliukas rose to head Craig Thomson's corner powerfully into the net, sparking a frantic final few minutes involving Palazuelos' dismissal and that breathtaking save. Barry Douglas had opened the scoring after just six minutes from Goodwillie's cross, cancelled out on the stroke of half-time when Rudi Skacel prodded home the rebound after Dusan Pernis had parried Stephen Elliott's shot.

Unsurprisingly, the final moments became the main talking point of the afternoon. Kello, not for the first time this season, had proven himself a critical component of a Hearts team which still has designs on finishing second in the SPL.

"Marian took my glory," joked Zaliukas. "Obviously he's one of the top goalkeepers. If he was playing for Celtic or Rangers then probably we could tell something but he is very comfortable and probably one of the best in the country. He is in the top three, definitely. I expected him to save the penalty. A good goalkeeper is half of a team."

Goodwillie threatened all afternoon and had a goal disallowed for hand ball after only 90 seconds. Whether his late aberration from 12 yards was the result of merciless public teasing was open to debate. "I thought he played well. I don't think that's why he missed the penalty," said Peter Houston, the Dundee United manager. "He's missed penalties before. It wasn't his best penalty and yes he's taking stick just now but he's got to expect that. Every fan in Scotland will give him it. He has to get used to it.

"The Hearts defenders didn't get it easy and that was down to David Goodwillie."

Jim Jefferies, the Hearts manager, was equally grateful to Kello after a game in which his players were outplayed for long spells but managed to maintain momentum in their quest to challenge the Old Firm. "Marian has done that before," he said. "He's produced a save and the ball came back to Goodwillie at a difficult height and it went wide. That's what happens when you're going well. We fought hard to get back into the game. No-one can say we didn't deserve it."

On the balance of play they probably didn't, if the truth be told. However the statistics paint a different story. Although Hearts' periods of sustained pressure were infrequent, they produced three times as many shots on target as United did throughout the afternoon. "I thought it was a decent game," continued Jefferies.

"They started sharper and better than us. I think United knew if they lost it would be very difficult for them to get third place. Their early goal posed a problem but we responded very well. We finished the first half really well and had a chance when Rudi went through and could have slipped the ball to Suso.

"Getting the goal before half-time gave us a lift but they started well in the second half and had more possession than us without creating any great chances. I think the best chances fell to Hearts. In 15 minutes we had two or three great opportunities to score. It was all about getting the next goal. When we got it we thought we'd see the game out but then one ball beats us. If it had finished 2-2 I don't think anyone could complain.

"Zaliukas said that's his one goal for the season but I've told him he should be scoring more. Webster strolled it again but Lee Wallace had to come off injured. We put Craig Thomson on and he took the corner from which Marius scored. Peter won't be too disappointed with his team because both sides had a go at each other."

After another three points, coupled with Kilmarnock's heavy defeat at Pittodrie, Zaliukas declared his belief that Hearts could be as little as three games away from clinching third place. "Now we have three tough games to come against Aberdeen, Kilmarnock and Dundee United again. If we take seven points or even five I think we will be safe," said the Lithuanian.

"Probably we didn't expect it to be so easy to be third. We expected a tough game against Dundee United but in the end we were lucky. I thought I'd scored last week at Hamilton but this time Stephen Elliott couldn't take my goal, so obviously I'm happy."

Houston understandably didn't quite share Zaliukas' elation but stressed the positives of a disciplined and impressive United performance. "I'm really pleased with our display," he said. "We beat Hibs 3-0 recently and we played better than that against Hearts. Football can be cruel. We lost the second goal but I was thinking we didn't deserve to lose the match. Then we got a penalty and missed it.

Taken from the Scotsman