Hearts were nearly broken on St Valentine’s Day at McDiarmid Park but battled back in dramatic style to to book their place in the last eight of the Scottish Cup.
Murray Davidson’s goal six minutes from the end of regulation time looked like sending hosts St Johnstone through to face St Mirren on March 10.
However, referee Brian Winter pointed to the penalty spot right at the death after an innocuous challenge by defender Alan Maybury on Hearts sub Suso Santana.
The stadium clock read 90 plus four extra minutes when up stepped Jamie Hammill to fire the penalty low into the left-hand corner of the net to send the fifth-round replay into extra time.
The first additional period couldn’t conjure up a goal but the second could, with Marius Zaliukas the hero for the Jam Tarts. He shot home from close range on 117 minutes to send manager Paulo Sergio and his coaching team wild on the sidelines.
It was a terrible way to exit the competition for Saints, whose boss Steve Lomas had been keen to sort things out following Saturday’s 5-1 home hammering at the hands of Dundee United in the league.
The Perth men came within a whisker but now they are left to focus solely on the remainder of the SPL campaign, and Lomas said: “We asked the players for a performance and we got that for sure the lads were 10 seconds from having the match won.
“We didn’t get the luck. Whether you say it’s opportunistic from Santana, I don’t know, but it’s a very soft penalty.
“I’m not going down the line of saying players cheat, but what I would say is Alan Maybury can’t move and he falls right into him.
“It’s an unbelievable call by the referee and he must have been 100% sure he got it right, but I would like to see him watch it again on television.”
Attendance: 3,430.