Hearts 2 Celtic 1

By Chris Roberts, PA Sport

Rangers enjoyed one of their best days of the past three years after Austin McCann's sensational last-minute winner further dented Celtic's hopes of retaining the title.

Henrik Larsson looked to have scored one of the most important of his 39th goals this season which would have closed the gap on Rangers to just five points.

But English journeyman Phil Stamp set up a dramatic finale for McCann to then score his first goal for the club and leave Martin O'Neill's men eight behind Rangers - who earlier booked their place in the Tennent's Scottish Cup final.

Celtic still have one game in hand before they go to Ibrox next Sunday - a fixture which has sparked an angry war of words.

But Rangers know if they avoid defeat, the title will be within their grasp with only a handful of games remaining before the end of the season.

Celtic are now realistically looking at the possibility of a trophyless campaign after the thrills and spills of the past months, and now much rides on their trip to Portugal on Thursday.

With the Glasgow giants needing to score against Boavista in the UEFA Cup semi-final second leg, this was far from the stroll in the capital park they would have wanted.

Hearts defender Steven Pressley set the tone with just 40 seconds on the clock and was lucky not be booked when he crudely cut Alan Thompson down in full flow with a late lunge after the Englishman has seized on a loose pass from Neil MacFarlane.

Referee John Rowbotham let that and a few full-bloodied challenges go without punishment after that, but Stamp was not so fortunate and was shown a yellow card for clumsy tackle on Joos Valgaeren moments later.

The home side also gave as good as they got in attack and they had the champions on the back foot in the 16th minute.

Bobo Balde had to get himself in front of Mark De Vries' effort after good persistence from Stamp before Thompson deflected Maybury's drive just past the upright.

But Valgaeren breathed a sigh of relief in the 23rd minute when he failed to cut out Scott Severin's cross into the box, but de Vries spun and fired wide.

Celtic were continuing to ride their luck and Johan Mjallby needed to be alert to stop Graham Weir from netting a certain goal from De Vries' ball by deflecting his shot wide.

The visitors responded strongly and Tepi Moilanen needed to push Thompson's sweet left-foot strike away.

Moments later Jean-Louis Valois was booked for bringing down Stilian Petrov on the left edge of the box and Finnish keeper Moilanen again saved Thompson's drive low to his left.

John Hartson then tried his luck from eight yards, but he blasted his right-foot shot into the boards behind the goal.

Moilanen again denied Celtic in the 36th minute when he pushed Hartson's low shot around the post.

But Hearts continued to threaten on the counter and Valois curled a 25-yard free-kick over.

Hearts were again fully committed after the restart, but Celtic were almost in goal in the 48th minute, from Didier Agathe's cross, before Petrov was penalised for handball.

The champions continued to probe, but the home side always looked capable of scoring on the break.

Celtic were almost caught on the break themselves in the 58th minute after Rowbotham ignored the fact that Larsson had been dumped on the floor by Webster.

The Hearts man ignored that and played Stamp clean through, but Robert Douglas came off his line to divert the shot over the crossbar.

The Scotland goalkeeper was once again the hero a minute later when he pushed Maybury's powerful drive over the bar.

It was the visitors who then went ahead.

Agathe finally got away down the right flank and cut the ball across the face of goal for Larsson to apply the faintest of touches past Moilanen from close range.

But Hearts refused to lie down and Valois was just inches away from getting on the end of De Vries cross with Douglas this time out of his goal.

The home side, however, did what they had been threatening in the 73rd minute when they pulled themselves back on level terms with a question mark against the Celtic defending.

Pressley's free-kick was allowed to run to Severin and although he miss-hit his shot, Stamp stretched to fire into the empty goal.

Mjallby then needed to block De Vries' header before Valois's struck a shot which came back off the upright.

Petrov was replaced by Jamie Smith as Celtic threw men forward in search of the winner, but the home side continued to threaten to take all the points on the break.

And they succeeded in some style when McCann drilled an unstoppable drive past the despairing dive of Douglas and in off the bar.

Hearts celebrated the points at the final whistle - but for Celtic their hopes of bringing silverware to Parkhead in May are rapidly disappearing.

Teams

Teams

Hearts: Moilanen, Maybury, Pressley, Webster, McCann, MacFarlane (Boyack 82), Stamp, Severin, Valois (Kirk 89), Weir (Wales 83), de Vries.

Subs Not Used: McKenzie, McKenna.

Booked: Stamp, Valois, Boyack.

Goals: Stamp 73, McCann 90.

Celtic: Douglas, Mjallby, Balde, Valgaeren, Agathe, Lennon, Petrov (Smith 79), Lambert (Maloney 83), Thompson, Larsson, Hartson.

Subs Not Used: Broto, McNamara, Kennedy.

Booked: Thompson.

Goals: Larsson 59.

Att: 15,855

Ref: J Rowbotham (Scotland).


Taken from sportinglife.com