Late strike keeps Celtic in driving seat

Hearts 1 Hartley (72)
Celtic 2 Thompson (25), Beattie (77)

Referee: W Young. Attendance: 15,927

A GAME which had everything was not quite decisive enough to confirm Celtic as champions but it offers them an exceptional opportunity to make a steeltown shake next Sunday. The title remains in the Parkhead side’s hands, and should they win against Motherwell something else will be thrust into their arms - the Bank of Scotland Premier League trophy.

Should it unfold this way few can say it has not been earned. Days like yesterday, with Hearts for so long in the ascendancy, can do little but nourish the belief that Martin O’Neill is primed to win a fourth title in five seasons. For a while it looked as though Easter Road, where Rangers are due on Sunday, might suddenly be where the spotlight was destined to be re-focused, with a vibrant Hearts side playing as if they too had title aspirations.

This was before Craig Beattie had emerged as an unlikely hero. This was before Willie Young had angered the home support at Tynecastle when not only dismissing Hearts’ appeals for a late, late penalty after a strong challenge by Beattie on Steven Pressley, but also supplying some insult when booking the acting-Hearts manager for simulation. That it was Pressley’s second caution meant the decision had a regretful consequence of prematurely ending a special day, and one he had hitherto handled with distinction.

The unruly melees which greeted the closing stages of this game summed up its ragged nature. Hearts’ goalkeeper Craig Gordon was waved up-field, and was at one point spotted hacking around in midfield combat with Neil Lennon. It was that kind of match, and although Hearts had already given up hope of moving up a place were still playing with a very perceptible ardour.

With less than 20 minutes remaining, the away end at Tynecastle was struck dumb. Paul Hartley had inflicted a most savage wound on Celtic’s title hopes. If his 72nd minute equaliser wasn’t a shot that was heard all around the world then it certainly caused a stir in the front rooms of those with Rangers’ interests at heart. That was until Beattie latched onto Stilian Petrov’s neat lay-off, and converted what proved to be the winner low to Gordon’s right. As a mood-alterer, it proved more powerful than any drug.

Prior to kick-off the bright sun and high stakes couldn’t help but encourage comparisons with Celtic’s critical defeat at Tynecastle two seasons ago, when Austin McCann’s late winner ultimately condemned Martin O’Neill’s side to the role of runners-up in the title race. A defeat here again and Celtic would have handed the initiative back to Rangers, while a draw, considering the Ibrox side’s superior goal difference, was hardly helpful either.

Hearts, always a tricky proposition, were likely to prove yet more explosive given the events at Tynecastle last week. The fortifying properties of losing a manager have been well documented and though the circumstances of John Robertson’s departure were unusual - few actually wanted him to go - this allowed for a spirit of defiance to swell. Such is the situation at the top of the table that doing it for Robbo meant also doing it for Rangers, even if this was not central in the Gorgie side’s thoughts.

With Craig Bellamy restored to the Celtic line-up this was never going to be a well-mannered affair, and so it proved. Early bookings for Bobo Balde and Chris Sutton ornamented opening stages that were brisk and, in terms of possession, dominated by the home side. Rab Douglas’ future at Celtic is uncertain and so was his handling. An early fumble when attempting to gather a Joe Hamill corner presented Andy Webster with a chance at the far post, but Hartson’s intervention was enough to direct the defender’s effort back out for a corner.

Placed under such pressure Celtic could ill-afford to be a man down in midfield, but Petrov was giving his manager need to splutter on the side-lines by taking an age to change his boots in front of the dug-out. Fortunately for Celtic - and specifically for the Bulgarian - Hamill could not take advantage of the extra room to manoeuvre, and his shot was saved by Douglas. That the keeper allowed the ball to spill from his grasp again suggested that the steep bank of Celtic fans behind him were having the effect of spooking rather than soothing him.

Celtic required an outlet to relieve this pressure and unsurprisingly Bellamy provided it. Although he’d been flexing his tonsils in the usual manner the Welshman had been an ominously quiet presence in a playing sense. This changed in abrupt fashion just before the half-hour mark, when a trademark run down the flank was the prelude to a dangerous cross. Robbie Neilson’s failure to deal with it in anything approaching an adequate manner gave the centre licence to find an unmarked Alan Thompson at the back post. He had time not only to control the ball but also address it, and then sent it past Gordon with the help of an extravagant deflection off the hapless Neilson.

While a long way from aesthetically pleasing it gladdened the hearts of Celtic fans in no mood to see Tynecastle become a graveyard for their title hopes once more. It was, though, a slim lead, and the fragility was emphasised by the gasp of horror which rose from the away end when it became clear Weir was about to be provided with a clear header on goal just minutes before the interval.

A looping throw from Neilson had been turned into something more hazardous by Webster’s flick-on but Weir failed rather dismally to make it count, simply sending the ball straight at the grateful Douglas. It took Hearts until well into the second half to construct a chance even half as blatant. Neilson was the architect, the right-back shrugging aside his first-half troubles as well as a couple of Celtic challenges on his way down the flank. When the ball broke, it fell kindly into the path of Hartley. His finish was both sweet and true, his joy unconfined.

It was a moment which sent into orbit any notion that professional players can be affected by emotional ties to a club. Hartley has never hidden where his boyhood affections lay, and might, had fate allowed it, been turning out for Celtic himself yesterday. But his wasn’t to be the last word.

Beattie’s strike, minutes after replacing Hartson, demanded another shift in perspective and Young’s strut towards Pressley, which he performed while digging out a yellow card, ensured there was not to be another extraordinary turn of events. Not this weekend anyway.

Hearts: Gordon, Neilson, Pressley, Webster, Wallace, Mikoliunas (McGeown 72), MacFarlane (Simmons 72), Hartley, Hamill, Miller, Weir (Thorarinsson 81). Subs not used: Moilanen, Wyness, Stewart, Sives.

Celtic: Douglas, Agathe, Balde, Varga, McNamara, Petrov, Lennon, Sutton, Thompson, Bellamy, Hartson (Beattie 66). Subs not used: Marshall, Valgaeren, Lambert, Laursen, Maloney, McGeady.

Taken from the Scotsman