Laszlo to tread carefully with Zaluska

13 May 2009 08:33
The Lithuanian defender was sent off following an off-the-ball incident involving Aberdeen striker Chris Maguire during the goalless draw at Pittodrie. However the Hearts manager refused to have words with his centre-half after the game, instead opting to wait until they had both viewed the incident again after a good night's sleep. Laszlo said: "If I am honest I don't talk about things after the game which may bring about emotion. We will sleep on it and tomorrow we will watch the DVD and then talk about what happened. "I can't always be the good guy protecting my players, sometimes my players have to protect themselves. But I must compliment my team for the way they performed, especially before Zaliukas was sent off when I thought we controlled the game." The charismatic Hearts boss also believed his side could have snatched all three points, which would have secured their qualification into next season's Europa League. He added: "Christian Nade had the best chance of the game in the last minute. If David Templeton had more experience he could also have scored twice, especially in the first half with his good dribble. "But I am happy after losing our last two games to get a draw. If the team finishes in third place at the end of the season then I will have to really compliment my players." Aberdeen boss Jimmy Calderwood said the result was a big blow to his side's chances of pipping either Dundee United or Hearts to one of the two Europa League spots up for grabs. He said: "The games are running out for us. We go to Ibrox at the weekend and Hearts are at home to Dundee United. We will see how that turns out but this was two points lost rather than a point gained." The Aberdeen boss spoke of his dissatisfaction at the tactics adopted by some of the Hearts players to waste time. He added: "Bruno Aguiar, who is a fabulous player, was off the park with an injury and then rolled back onto the pitch. "It is not sour grapes but I don't think rolling about on the pitch has anything to do with Scottish football. "In our days we would have sorted it out but you can't do that these days. But the referee should have dealt with that in the third minute. "We kept telling the referee that they were taking the mickey out of him but he never did anything to stop it."

Source: Team_Talk