Karipidis refuses to shoulder the blame as Laszlo bemoans defending for Fletcher's winning goal

Published on Sunday 15 March 2009 21:06

ALTHOUGH Csaba Laszlo, the manager of Hearts, and Christos Karipidis, one of his centre-backs, both regarded Steven Fletcher's winning goal in the Edinburgh derby as a self-inflicted wound, the Greek defender was reluctant to shoulder a share of the blame for not dealing with Alan O'Brien's cross, which sailed over the head of Eggert Jonsson.

Laszlo was seen exchanging words with Karipidis on the pitch after the incident. Later the manager took issue with his defence – Jonsson completely missed the cross from the right which Fletcher looped over goalkeeper Janos Balogh with his shoulder – for gifting Hibs a match-winning opportunity.

"This was very easy for the striker," observed the manager. "One of the two defensive players stood forward and the other behind. And in the middle was the opponent without any pressure. This is definitely very bad. We talk about our (misfiring] striker but in this moment our defence made a big mistake."

Karipidis, who is out of contract at the end of the season, was unimpressed to have the finger of blame pointed in his direction. He argued his responsibility lay with marking Colin Nish and claimed that was exactly what he did.

Asked about the exchange with Hearts manager Laszlo, Karipidis replied: "I don't want to talk about this. If you look at the video, you can see what happened. I have my player, Nish, I think. But if the manager says this (something critical] it's okay, that's football. In my opinion, Hibs score for nothing."

As for the rest of an engrossing encounter, Karipidis agreed Hearts neglected to take their chances and failed to build on a bright start to the derby.

"I think we have to take something from this game," he added. "In football, you can't always win every time. We started the first ten minutes against Hibs very well. We played a passing game and had control of the match. After losing the goal, we had two very good chances but didn't equalise.

"We tried to change something and there were more good chances for us in the second-half, one of which struck the crossbar. We didn't score, but at this moment we don't need to panic. We must try and learn from our mistakes. The next game (against Rangers] is also very hard and we must win."

Of course, it shouldn't be forgotten Karipidis spent the first half of the season as a holding midfield player, while Jonsson is a versatile type who has filled so many positions it's easy to overlook how the Iceland international also began his Tynecastle career in midfield.

Ever since Christophe Berra was sold to Wolves and Marius Zaliukas served a lengthy suspension, Hearts have looked vulnerable under aerial threat. They lost a soft goal from a cross at Hamilton on 31 January, were eliminated from the Scottish Cup by a speculative high punt from Falkirk in February and conceded two points against St Mirren last month to a late free-kick which wasn't headed clear.

In other words, the susceptibility of a make-shift arrangement in central defence was always going to undermine the club's European ambitions and should come as no great surprise to the Hearts manager, who was denied the opportunity to recruit an experienced replacement, Pavol Farkas, for Berra during the transfer window in January.

Nevertheless, Hearts remain five points clear in third place. Whether they can make light of a reliable finisher in the weeks to come is also open to debate.

The lack of a credible alternative to Christian Nade, who huffed and puffed against Hibs, cost Hearts dearly in the derby. Over the course of 90 minutes, the visitors enjoyed as much possession and created more chances than the home side. So it was little wonder Laszlo chose to draw the distinction between the amateur and professional games when he stressed pros convert the one chance which comes their way. Nade, who failed to exploit Sol Bamba's mistake in the first half and headed against the bar in the second, clearly lacks a killer touch.

"You don't need five or six to score," rued the manager. "Christian tried to do his job but if he has chances to score in future, he must be more focused."

The loss of Andrew Driver in the first half with a hamstring injury was also a blow and places a question mark over the winger's involvement against Rangers at Ibrox on Saturday. Jamie MacDonald seems certain to start in goal after Janos Balogh was sent off for bringing down Fletcher.