Galloway opens the door for Hearts

ian paul

6 Jan 1992

FIVE minutes of madness was a fitting description of the collapse of Celtic against Hearts, who left Parkhead having achieved a 2-1 win largely due to the latest examples of Celtic kamikaze expertise.

Bad luck you can do little about, and when Tony Mowbray suffered a sore ankle injury before half-time, Celtic had to make alterations to their line-up for the second half.

But daft indiscipline is something you can tackle and no doubt Mike Galloway will be the subject of a fine by his manager, Liam Brady.

Galloway, who was playing only his second game after returning from a three-match suspension, belied his maturity as a player by indulging in the kind of petty behaviour you would expect from a silly teenager .

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and duly paid the cost, which was a red card.

That in itself was bad enough, but his indiscretions meant that any chance Celtic held of restoring their pride following the defeat by Rangers had disappeared.

Few teams can lose their centre half, then lose his deputy and hold off the league leaders with 10 men.

Celtic certainly couldn't, and it took Hearts only a little while after Galloway's departure to realise the points were there for the lifting.

Stepping up a gear, and revealing their true attacking talents for the first time, the Tynecastle team could have scored more than the two goals they collected inside a minute, but there was never any doubt as to their victory.

Galloway, the former Hearts player who has made an admirable comeback to the Celtic first team this season, is a valuable player for Brady, but only when he plays as he can and channels his aggression in the right way.

He and Tosh McKinlay clashed early on at Parkhead but, after both had been warned by the referee, Galloway offered his hand to the Hearts player.

McKinlay, who did not earn himself any admiration either, ignored the peace offering and Galloway foolishly responded with a V sign.

Inevitably, he was shown the yellow card, which then put him in the most precarious situation, as was confirmed nine minutes after half-time when he lunged at Ian Baird.

That tackle warranted a booking and so the Celtic man had to be despatched to the dressing room.

Until then Celtic had looked the more likely team, although they created few real opportunities from the greater possession they achieved.

The strikers were not given the ammunition they require but, in any case, at the moment do not look as sharp as necessary for the demands of this division.

Mowbray does give the defence a much more organised look, and Mark McNally is establishing himself as his ideal partner.

But when that had to be changed the loss of Galloway's strength in midfield was bound to give Hearts an advantage.

For five minutes after Galloway's departure, Celtic were lifted by their fans to greater effort, but it soon petered out and Hearts struck with devastating effect.

Chris Morris, who otherwise had a good game, was short with a pass to McNally and McKinlay seized his chance to feed Scott Crabbe, who made no mistake.

Inside a minute they were two up.

John Robertson held the ball cleverly on the right, weaved inside a couple of tackles, and laid the ball perfectly for John Millar to beat Gordon Marshall comfortably.

Hearts really just passed the time from then on, but that could have proved foolish if John Collins' goal had come a bit earlier than three minutes from the end.

Joe Jordan, the Hearts manager, made that point afterwards, but generally was in satisfied mood, as you might expect.

"The way we approached the second half is the way we have to come to these kind of games," he said.

"The players must know now that there aren't any places we can't get a good result."

Jordan accepted that Celtic had put his team under pressure in the first half, without giving keeper Henry Smith much cause for alarm -- apart from one Tommy Coyne header which he tipped over the bar -- but what pleased him about that spell was the absence of serious error by his defence, in which Alan McLaren is fast catching up on the quality of Dave McPherson and Craig Levein.

Brady took time to praise the Tynecastle trio, too.

"Those three lads are playing really well and you have to give credit to the well organised Hearts defence."

The task the Celtic manager faces now is formidable.

Their remaining league season contains very little to entice fans weaned on excitement; he has the difficult job of persuading the best player in his team, Paul McStay, to remain at Parkhead; and he has to get a good Scottish Cup run to salvage another depressing season.

And we had the cheek to wish him a Happy New Year.

Taken from the Herald