Kilmarnock defender Conrad Balatoni admitted he savoured every moment of scoring against his boyhood heroes Hearts at Tynecastle.

The big centre-back grew up a Jambos fan and was on the books of the Edinburgh club as a youngster, but left in 2012 without playing a first-team match.

However, there was no sign of sentiment when he rattled home a fine equaliser from the edge of the box after 79 minutes to rescue a pivotal point for Gary Locke's visitors in a 1-1 draw.

There is a trend among players to celebrate in muted fashion against their former employers, but Balatoni's celebrations were joyous.

He smiled: "I enjoyed the moment as it was my first goal for Kilmarnock.

"I am a Hearts fan and I this is where I started my career but I did not play for the first team, so it was a great moment to come back and get that goal.

"I got my head and knee over the ball as it fell nicely for me and I just smashed it. Thankfully, I struck it sweetly - it is one of the better efforts I have ever had and it found the bottom corner."

It was redemption for the former Partick defender, who was largely responsible for Hearts claiming the lead prior to half-time.

He bundled into Osman Sow inside the box as the big Swede surged towards goal, allowing Jamie Walker to fire the resulting penalty into the roof of the net for his first goal of the season.

Balatoni continued: "After giving away the penalty it is always nice to redeem yourself and I have managed to pop up with the goal that has got us a draw.

"Not many teams will come to Tynecastle and take anything so we are pretty pleased with the outcome. Sheer commitment and desire got us a point and I have also been impressed with the quality of the squad.

"In the last few weeks we have shown that we can perform and we are going into the international break on the back of a good result."

Hearts' afternoon, which looked like it would herald a victory for long periods, was further soured in injury time when Gavin Reilly was given his marching orders for kicking out at Steven Smith.

Hearts head coach Robbie Neilson said: "Gavin shouldn't have kicked out. He'll be suspended for two games now so it's a learning curve for him."