Dodgy Dish leaves Hibees feeling sick

HIBS left Tynecastle nursing a sense of grievance, convinced a bad call from assistant referee Willie Dishington had cost them not just a point but all three in an explosive Boxing Day derby.

Dishington accused Easter Road ace Dean Shiels of punching Craig Gordon as he raced into the Hearts goalkeeper's net to retrieve the ball having hauled Hibs level from the penalty spot.

But, if the Northern Ireland star's decision - understandable as it was given the emotional circumstances of the moment - to chase the ball was ill-advised, television pictures conclusively revealed that, while there was a collision between the players and Shiels hands were high, there was, as Shiels himself insisted, no punch involved.

The 21-year-old's world fell apart, however, as referee Mike McCurry, left with no alternative given the advice of his assistant, flashed the red card and Hibs, having fought back against all the odds after finding themselves two goals down only to haul themselves level, were left to face the final 30 minutes a man short.

It proved too big a handicap as Hearts substitute Andrius Velicka drilled a low ball across the visitors' 18-yard line, and the Hibs defence hesitated for a fatal moment as Roman Bednar went down screaming for a penalty giving Saulius Mikoliunas that precious split-second to lash home what proved to be the winner.

Even then, though, Hibs weren't finished and Gordon had the framework of his goal to thank as Steven Whittaker latched onto Chris Killen's pass to hammer a shot against the goalkeeper's left-hand post before watching in amazement as the ball them crashed off the opposite post and out.

Incredibly, despite being a man short Hibs dominated that pulsating second-half, statistics showing they enjoyed 62 per cent of the ball during that period, one which left boss John Collins a cauldron of mixed emotions.

He said: "Derbies are always fast and furious but I thought that, in the second-half my players were sensational, they passed the ball fantastically well."

However, by that stage, Hibs were 2-0 down thanks to yet another blunder from goalkeeper Zibi Malkowski.

With Hibs trailing to Paul Hartley's second-minute goal - although there was a question of an offside decision missed by Dishington as Bednar ran onto Edgaras Jankauskas' flick - the big Pole made yet another crucial error.

Hartley's free-kick carried little menace and yet Malkowski managed to spill it, straight into the path of Jankauskas, leaving the Hearts fans to taunt the keeper with cries of "Zibi we love you."

And with good reason given Malkowski's howlers in last season's Scottish Cup semi-final and again in the first derby of the season when he gifted Hearts a point as they fought back from two goals down on that occasion.

Branding Malkowski's latest effort "pathetic", Collins said: "Goalkeepers should catch those balls, they should be bread and butter to them. I told him afterwards it wasn't good enough. He put us in an awkward position but, in fairness, it kicked us on.

"When the second goal went in we could have cracked, crumbled and players could have hidden. But they rolled up their sleeves, kept playing proper football and got back into the match."

More of that later, but Collins faces something of a conundrum regarding the goalkeeping position after former boss Tony Mowbray's decision to "bin" Simon Brown after only the second game of the season.

Brown hasn't even featured on the bench since, that place being given to 19-year-old Andy McNeil leaving Collins with the simple choice of keeping faith with the hapless Malkowski, whose temperament on the big occasions seems suspect, or to gamble on the inexperience of the youngster.

As Collins himself has said, managers are paid to make tough decisions and this is one which is surely exercising his mind at the moment as will the fact that the lack of depth in his squad was thrown into sharp relief at Tynecastle.

With the likes of Steven Fletcher, Kevin Thomson and Merouane Zemmama failing late fitness tests and Ivan Sproule suspended, Collins was left with no other choice but to name a clutch of youngsters on his bench, Lewis Stevenson, Jamie McCluskey, Ross Campbell and Kevin McCann alongside McNeil.

Contrast that with the Hearts bench, guys like Michal Pospisil, Bruno Aguiar, Steven Banks, Christos Karipidis and Velicka. Plenty of options there for Valdas Ivanauskas, precious few for Collins. Even so, Chris Killen, who had missed a wonderful chance to pull Hibs level in the first-half just as Abdessalam Benjelloun had passed up a glorious opportunity with less than 60 seconds on the clock, threw Hibs a lifeline, the Kiwi striker powering home a header from Shiels corner.

Six minutes later came that fateful penalty, Whittaker delivering a sumptuous crossfield pass which flew over the head of Nerijus Barasa who, having lost his bearings, thrust out a hand to feel for Shiels.

Down went the Hibs star, McCurry thought long and hard before pointing to the spot. Up stepped Shiels to send Gordon the wrong way and then bedlam as the pair clashed, the Hearts goalkeeper ending up on the deck and virtually all 22 players congregating in the net.

While Dishington was obviously in no doubt as to what he saw in the heat of the moment, Shiels argued otherwise. He said: "The linesman came over and accused me of punching Craig Gordon, I totally deny it. There was no punch. When I scored I felt there was only one team going to win it, there was only one team trying to play football and that was us.

"We showed great character from having been 2-0 down. We weren't at the races in the first-half, we knew we needed to play the way we normally play and I felt we did that in the second-half."

Collins, who confronted his player as he trooped off for his early bath, was convinced Shiels was innocent as charged by Dishington and obviously felt Gordon had made the most of the moment.

He said: "The linesman told me my player punched the goalkeeper but I have watched it again and there was no punch. Dean has scored the penalty and his momentum has taken him forward and he's run into the goalkeeper trying to get the ball."

Collins accepted that Shiels should simply have turned and headed for the centre circle but added: "He's nine-and-a-half stone and the goalkeeper is 13-and-a-half. There was no punch and anyone who thinks there was has better eyes than me.

"Dean should have run back but he tried to get into the back of the net to pick up the ball and there has been a collision, a yellow card at most but red, never, in my humble opinion, in a hundred years."

Taken from the Scotsman