Hearts head coach Robbie Neilson praised his side's fighting spirit as they came from behind to seal a dramatic 1-1 draw with fierce rivals Hibernian in Sunday's Edinburgh derby at Easter Road.

Dominique Malonga looked to have brought the Jambos 10-match unbeaten start to life in the Scottish Championship to an end when he scrambled home a 44th minute opener for Hibs.

The Tynecastle club's task became even harder 10 minutes from time when Callum Paterson was shown a straight red for a nasty challenge from behind on goalscorer Malonga.

However, Alim Ozturk's 40-yard thunderbolt two minutes into stoppage time extended Hearts' lead at the top of the table to seven points over Glasgow giants Rangers as they chase the one automatic promotion spot back to Scotland's top flight.

And Neilson, who is in his first season of management, was delighted to see his side rescue a point at the home of their greatest rivals.

"We showed some fantastic spirit to keep the run going of being undefeated," the former Hearts defender said.

"I didn't think there were a lot of chances really created in the first half. If we had gone in at 0-0 at half-time I would have thought it was a fair reflection of the first half.

"But there is a great spirit here. We spoke at half-time about it being a fantastic opportunity - being 1-0 down at Easter Road - to go and show people we can come back from this.

"We had hoped to get the win and kept going right to the end even when we lost a man to go down to ten men. A lot of teams would have crumbled and lost more goals but we kept going and kept passing the ball and getting into good areas and eventually we got the goal.

"We changed the formation and put two up front and really went for it. We continued to pass it, which was pleasing, and we got our reward at the end."

Hearts seemed to be heading for defeat but with time ticking away centre-half Ozturk picked up the ball 40 yards out and unleashed an unstoppable dipping strike that smacked the underside of the bar before crossing the line.

"It was a fantastic strike. To be fair to Alim he practices long-range shots and free-kicks in training all the time," Neilson said.

"Hibs were sitting in at that time and we needed someone to have a shot from distance to try and get them out and he's smashed it.

"It was one of those shots that as soon as it's left his boot he knows it's going in. It would definitely be a contender for goal of the season anyway."

The draw moves Hibs up to fourth place in the table but still their city rivals by 14 points.

Hibs manager Alan Stubbs praised his players for rising to the challenge as they show signs of recovery following a poor start to the season.

"It would be very easy for me to be downbeat because of what's happened but I thought my players were absolutely outstanding today," Stubbs said.

"We've played the so-called champions, which everyone seems to be calling them at this moment in time, and we have more than matched them.

"I am disappointed because of the effort that we put in. I thought we were by far the better team and deserved to win the game but how can you be too down on yourself when we performed that well in the game."

The Hibernian manager refused to attribute any blame for the goal to 'keeper Mark Oxley.

"I think when you look at the strike I don't think he will ever score a goal like that again. I think you could've put the best 'keeper in the world in that goal and the way the ball moved and dipped at the last minute I don't think anyone would've saved it.

"It's just one of those freak strikes that has gone in unfortunately."