Give me 2 more minutes

He reckons he was lucky to last six months — now he wants just two more MINUTES in maroon.

The out-of-contract Jambos skipper is resigned to leaving the club this summer as the Tynecastle club slash their wage budget and wants to bow out with a late cameo appearance against Aberdeen.

He’s just battled back from an ankle injury that’s kept him out since February — but Zaliukas revealed he came close on a few occasions to throwing in the towel at Tynecastle in the past.

He said: “I thought after six months that I would leave. It was just terrible, but in the last couple of years I have been more consistent.

“I am happy and I am proud, because I have become who I am at this club and it feels like home.

“But in those early days I was played out of position as a holding midfielder. I still have nightmares about that!

“For two years it was hard to adapt to everything — the football tempo, the lifestyle and mentality.

“It didn’t quite get to the stage that I had packed my bags but I knew the call could come at any day to say that it was all over.

“But here I am, seven years on, and I am happy with that. Now I can say this is a good country with good football.”

Zaliukas pleaded with manager Locke to include him in the line-up against city rivals Hibs, though he knew he was nowhere near match fitness.

He wanted to go out with a bang — but he’ll settle for a wave. He added: “I want to play a couple of minutes against Aberdeen. I wish there were more games so I could do it properly.

“It’s maybe 50-50 that I’ll be involved but I’ll kill Lockey if I don’t get on!

“I wanted to come on so badly against Hibs because I have been here for seven years and the place is so special for me.

“I don’t know if I could have stopped Hibs’ winner because I wanted to go on as a striker!”

Zaliukas enjoys a hate-hate relationship with Hibs. They hate him and the feeling is mutual.

He didn’t hesitate for a second when asked for the highlight of his eventful period at Hearts — last season’s 5-1 Scottish Cup triumph.

When asked to pick out his favourite moment, he smiled: “The 19th of May is obviously the highlight. I remember for the last 40 minutes of the game I was preparing myself to lift the cup.

“It was a great day for everyone. We just dominated all the time and whenever we played Hibs we dominated, so everyone was confident.”

A lot has been said and written this week about the tide having turned in Edinburgh, with Hibs’ 2-1 win on Sunday ensuring they’ve gone the whole season unbeaten against their rivals.

But Zaliukas sneered: “If Hibs win this Scottish Cup it won’t make up for anything. How could it? That day is in the history books now. It was the biggest derby of all time. We won, they’ll never be able to change that.”

Marius Zaliukas was speaking at the TESCO Bank Football Challenge festival at Tynecastle.