Celtic keep a firm grip on Scottish Cup

GLENN GIBBONS
AT HAMPDEN

Hearts 1
Cesnauskis (60)

Celtic 2
Sutton (3), Bellamy (49)

Referee: S Dougal. Attendance: 38,505

IN A match that did no damage to the reputation of semi-finals as tentative, generally uninspired occasions, Celtic yesterday took care of business with the efficiency that has characterised much of their work through the past five, honours-laden years.

Martin O’Neill’s team’s rendezvous with Dundee United in the Tennent’s Scottish Cup final back at Hampden Park on 28 May was confirmed by goals from Chris Sutton and Craig Bellamy that might have been deliberately, and impeccably, timed to ensure that Hearts’ ambition was always kept tantalisingly just beyond their reach.

By the time the substitute, Deividas Cesnauskis, found a way past the Celtic goalkeeper, David Marshall, with a strike of extraordinary quality, the cup holders, without dazzling, seemed to have entrenched themselves in the belief that their own insistence on keeping a firm grip on the old trophy would not be confounded.

This was an impression echoed by O’Neill himself afterwards, when he dwelled momentarily on Hearts’ mini-resurgence in the aftermath of their goal in the second half. "I thought we were pretty much in control through the first half, without managing to put the game beyond Hearts.

"Then we got the second goal, but, to their credit, Hearts got back into it with one of their own and took control for a short period. We had chances to score a third and didn’t take them, but we were fairly comfortable and I don’t think there’s any doubt we deserved to win the match."

Robertson was not prepared to concede that his team were definitively second best, claiming that they were suckered by the concession of poor goals at bad times and that, otherwise, there was little between the teams.

He said: "Until the second goal, the only difference between the sides was a quality delivery from Alan Thompson which brought the first goal. Celtic didn’t create much after that. We lost a bad second goal when the ball took a little deflection off Andy Webster and got away from Craig Gordon. But our team showed once again that, when they compete, when they keep the ball down and pass it, they’re a match for anyone."

Celtic established that early advantage by doing what they have done best - and consistently much better than anyone else - since O’Neill became manager in the summer of 2000. That is, they alchemised the base metal of a set piece into gold.

They did it in the way they have on innumerable occasions through those five season, in the process leaving the Hearts goalkeeper, Gordon, and his central defenders, Steven Pressley and Webster, vulnerable to criticism over their positioning and alertness.

But Celtic - and, more specifically, Thompson and Sutton - have made such a success of this exercise so often that any culpability directed at the defence should be tempered with acknowledgement of the expertise of the execution. Thompson played a corner kick on the right short to Stilian Petrov, who teed the ball up.

The Englishman’s cross from there curled straight towards Sutton and, although Gordon appeared to be caught between leaving his line and staying - reducing his chances of being properly set for the save - it is doubtful if more decisiveness would have prevented Sutton’s six-yard header from finding the net.

It was a moment that must have filled O’Neill with gratitude for the return of the big striker from a five-week absence with a troublesome hamstring. Playing just behind the front-line pair, John Hartson and Bellamy, he was a problem - and a formidable one - with which the Tynecastle side did not have to contend in their league victory at Celtic Park eight days earlier.

But, until that damaging intrusion by Cesnauskis, Hearts had been unable to summon anything like the self-certainty and ambition that had been the feature of their 2-0 victory the previous week. If they had a conviction, it seemed to be that there was little they could do to avoid defeat.

This would almost certainly derive from the concussive effect of that opening goal and the confidence it brought to O’Neill’s players. By repeating their productive start in the second half, Celtic effectively put themselves in the final. This impression was confirmed by their coming close to scoring a third within the next few minutes, denied only by a little misfortune.

They did, however, enjoy a break in the build-up to Bellamy’s goal which assisted in its completion. Neil Lennon, from midfield, played a free-kick forward to Hartson, whose glanced header hit Paul Hartley and bounced straight to Bellamy. The striker still had work to do and he did it competently, turning quickly and driving the ball left-footed - it did make tangential contact with Webster’s knee - low past Gordon from 10 yards.

Robertson had replaced Robbie Neilson at the start of the second half with Cesnauskis and, while the Lithuanian would probably have been used for tactical reasons, it was an injury which ensured that it would be the right-back who would be withdrawn.

The manager confirmed this afterwards. "He would have been on, but it probably would not have been Robbie he would replace," he said. "Deivid only missed the Celtic match last week because he was back late on Friday from his match for Lithuania, and Joe Hamill did very well at Parkhead."

Jamie McAllister moved into Neilson’s role, with Cesnauskis going wide on the right and this re-deployment proved to be providential, as it was these two who combined to score an extraordinary goal.

McAllister’s pass down the right was perfectly weighted and Cesnauskis, seeing David Marshall a little off his line and covering the near corner, sent a lobbed volley over the big goalkeeper and into the far corner. It was a strike of exceptional quality.

Despite their flurry of assertiveness for a while afterwards, however, Hearts did not contrive the kind of opportunity that came the way of Petrov. The Bulgarian pushed through midfield and had a clear look at goal from the edge of the box, but decided to play in Sutton on his left.

The pass was under-hit, allowing the back-tracking Hartley to reach the ball just ahead of the striker and stab it clear. Victory by a two-goal margin may have been mildly flattering to Celtic, but their right to a place in the final was surely incontestable.

Hearts: Gordon; Neilson (Cesnauskis 46), Pressley, Webster, Wallace; Macfarlane (Wyness 78), Hartley, McAllister, Hamill (Kyzis 58); Miller, Burchill. Subs: Moilanen, Berra.

Celtic: Marshall; McNamara, Varga, Balde, Valgaeren; Petrov, Lennon, Thompson; Sutton; Hartson (McGeady 72), Bellamy. Subs: Douglas, Henchoz, Lambert, Maloney.

Taken from the Scotsman