Hearts 1 Celtic 4

By Chris Roberts, PA Sport

Celtic's ruthless striking pair sent out a chilling warning to Premier League leaders Rangers and John Hartson - who is contemplating a cold and frustrating winter on the bench.

Henrik Larsson scored a double while Chris Sutton and Stilian Petrov also weighed in with first-half goals to kill off Hearts and close the gap at the top of the table to one point.

But despite his impressive performance in Wales' midweek win over Italy and Martin O'Neill's dismissal of 'showdown talks', Hartson must have been wondering where his next start would come from.

He watched on as Celtic made the perfect start when they took the lead with their very first chance after just two minutes.

The opportunity came about after Scotland's star defender in Iceland last week, Steven Pressley, was rightly penalised for climbing all over the back of Sutton on the left touchline.

With the Hearts side on the defensive, Neil Lennon played the ball into Sutton, who turned his marker Kevin McKenna before drilling the shot low past the despairing dive of Roddy McKenzie.

The home side looked for a quick reply, but they were hit by a cruel sucker-punch just six minutes later.

Petrov, who looks set to sign a new deal soon, broke forward at pace and picked out Sutton on the right flank.

The Englishman's cross was touched on by Larsson to Steve Guppy who fired against the upright, but the ball fell kindly into the path of the Bulgarian to steer the ball into the back of the net.

Hearts in-form striker Mark de Vries was just not getting the service as his team-mates tried desperately to stay in the game.

Such was the champions' dominance it took Hearts 21 minutes to muster their first effort at goal, but Phil Stamp screwed his right-foot shot just past the post from the edge of the box.

The home side took some heart from that and they bustled their through for a chance three minutes later.

Paul McMullan played a long ball into the box and de Vries knocked the ball on to Andy Kirk, who drilled his right-foot shot into the side-netting from a tight angle with the help of a deflection.

Spurred on by their angry fans, Hearts won a free-kick in a dangerous area after 26 minutes when Paul Lambert was judged to have fouled de Vries five yards outside the box.

From the resulting kick Robert Douglas, who was at fault for two of the goals against Rangers recently, pulled off a great save down to his left to keep Jean-Louis Valois' effort out and then even bettered that with a superb reflex stop from Kirk's follow-up.

But Hearts were getting as agitated as their supporters, who were venting their anger at the mocking visiting fans, and Scott Severin was booked for a bad challenge on Didier Agathe.

It should have got even worse for the home side and they had all but accepted that the game was over in the 35th minute when Larsson had a glorious chance.

Petrov played the ball up to Sutton and he back-heeled the ball back into his path.

He looked up and saw the Swede lose his marker, but the dependable striker somehow struck his left-foot shot over the bar from seven yards.

But Larsson never let that affect him and he responded by killing the game off just two minutes later.

Sutton headed Lennon's inviting cross against the upright and the ball fell to his strike-partner to fire into the back of the net.

McKenna could have revived his side moments later when he fired wide after a goalmouth scramble, but it was Celtic who stretched their lead even further just three minutes before the break.

With the Hearts defence all over the place, Bobo Balde played the ball into the path of Larsson and he drew the keeper before dinking the ball over him for his 17th goal of the campaign.

Former Celtic youth player David McGeown was saved from any more agony on his full Hearts debut when he and Phil Stamp were taken off and replaced by Stephen Simmons and Andrew Webster.

Those remaining in maroon shirts must have been hoping that they too could have clocked off for the day and gone home.

The home fans, who had stayed on, finally had something to cheer in the 63rd minute when Agathe was booked for a foul on Kirk, but their brief smiles were nearly wiped away two minutes later.

The winger picked out Sutton to head down into the path of Larsson, who elected to use his foot instead of his head and promptly fired over the bar from little more than five yards.

Hartson finally got his chance in the 75th minute when he came on for Guppy, but even then he was overshadowed by Hearts substitute Gary Wales, who hit a late consolation.

The championship race might be hotting up - but if Larsson and Sutton continue to remain on fire the Welshman is facing being frozen out before the transfer window opens up in January.

Teams:

Hearts: McKenzie, Maybury, Pressley, McKenna, Severin, Stamp (Webster 45), McGeown (Simmons 45), McMullan, Valois, Kirk (Wales 77), de Vries.

Subs Not Used: Gordon, Twaddle.

Booked: Severin.

Goals: Wales 89.

Celtic: Douglas, Valgaeren (Crainey 75), Balde, Laursen, Agathe, Lambert, Lennon, Petrov (Thompson 68), Guppy (Hartson 75), Sutton, Larsson.

Subs Not Used: Gould, Miller.

Booked: Agathe.

Goals: Sutton 3, Petrov 9, Larsson 37, 42.

Att: 13,911

Ref: K Clark (Scotland).

Taken from sportinglife.com