The young Dubliner did not believe Justin Skinner's challenge on Ricardo Fuller merited the spot-kick from which Hearts scored the latest of equalisers. Maybury's candour was refreshing as Hearts heaved a mighty sigh of relief and Dunfermline carried a sense of injustice back across the Forth Bridge.

If the 23-year-old spoke the truth on the match' s most contentious moment, though, it is worth taking him at his word on the similarities between his new team and the group he left behind at Leeds United.

He's not getting Fuller confused with Fowler, but the Republic of Ireland international reckons the same close spirit is evident at Tynecastle and Elland Road.

Having grown up with Harry Kewell and Co in a club hostel in Yorkshire, the £100,000 right-back has developed a sharp eye for talent and potential. And, after scraping a last-gasp point from a 1-1 draw with the Pars, he identified penalty scorer Stephen Simmons as the Kewell-like jewel of Gorgie.

'I have been very impressed with Stephen since I arrived here,' said Maybury. 'For a young lad, a lot has been expected of him in terms of carrying the midfield. He wants to drive on and get into the box and he is doing really well for a young boy. There is a lot of pressure on him, but I think he can go a long way in the game.'

Craig Levein, seeing a strong bond forged among his youngsters, also heaped praise upon 19-year-old Simmons after his penalty. A three-minute delay ensued as referee Bobby Orr took counsel from a linesman and penalised Skinner, with Dunfermline captain Ian Ferguson booked for his protests.

Through it all, Simmons stood with the ball clutched to his chest and patiently waited his moment to roll it past Pars keeper Marco Ruitenbeek.

'The reason he got the job is because he is a confident young lad,' explained Levein. 'He has a touch of arrogance about him, which can be good. There would not have been too many experienced players who could have handled a delay of two or three minutes, but he remained very calm to stroke the ball home.'

Levein talked around the issue of whether Skinner's challenge actually merited the award, preferring to point to previous claims by Gary Wales and Steven Pressley. The head coach was content to describe the penalty as ensuring Hearts gained 'the right result', even though plenty among the 11,176 crowd weren't there to witness it.

Maybury, however, confessed to a pleasant sense of astonishment after he feared Hearts' efforts towards an equaliser would be in vain.

'I was playing on and I didn't see anything,' he said. 'Ricardo went down but I didn't think it was a penalty so I just kept chasing to keep the ball in the corner.

'Suddenly, it all erupted and a penalty was awarded. Ricardo said he went through the middle of two players, they cut across him and he went down. My initial thought was that it wasn't a penalty.'

Maybury, not to mention Jamaican striker Fuller, has been eased into the Edinburgh lifestyle by Tynecastle youngsters such as Simmons. Having left Home Farm for Leeds as a callow teenager, the Irishman is no stranger to finding himself in an alien environment surrounded by strangers.

But the welcome he has received in Gorgie has evoked memories of the close relationship he enjoyed as Leeds' talented kids emerged under George Graham and David O'Leary.

'The lads have really helped me settle here,' added Maybury. 'Kevin McKenna and Andy Webster are relatively new as well, and we have been shown all the sights. We on get on well, maybe because we are similar ages. The young lads all hang around together and it is similar to Leeds in many ways.

'There is the same spirit here as there was at Leeds when I came through with Kewell, Jonathan Woodgate, Paul Robinson and Stephen McPhail. At Leeds, we all lived together as second- year apprentices in digs beside the training ground. There was a real spirit between all of the lads.

'If something went wrong in the hostel, we all took the blame - and if something went wrong on the pitch, we all took the blame. It's the same here.'

Antti Niemi would have been devoid of all blame, even if Dunfermline had clung to the lead earned by Barry Nicholson after 73 minutes.

The Hearts keeper produced splendid saves to deny Scott Thomson, Andrius Skerla and Nicholson before the Scotland midfielder played a onetwo with Lee Bullen and smacked a low shot into the far corner.

But Dunfermline couldn't quite hang on for a rare away victory, even if the manner in which they were deprived of all three points shocked Hearts, too.