Hearts in SPL title race for long haul

ANDREW SMITH
AT CELTIC PARK

HEARTS didn't merely earn a point yesterday, they made one. "Just wait till they come up against the Old Firm," was the mantra of the many who implacably dismissed a Hearts title challenge as George Burley's men racked up victory after victory in the opening months of this season. But the fully merited nature of their Celtic Park share of the spoils, which comes only a matter of weeks after they beat Rangers at Tynecastle, appears proof positive that the Edinburgh club are in this championship race to stay.

In retaining a three point advantage over Celtic at the top of the Premierleague, they continue to set the pace. Followers of Strachan's team, indeed, may be alarmed at just how much of the running they made in the east end of Glasgow. Going behind to a 13th-minute Craig Beattie goal that belied a bright opening from them, Burley's men never seemed likely to wilt after hitting back three minutes later through Rudi Skacel. And when the late charge from the home side arrived, Hearts resoluteness caused the home supporters in the 60,103 crowd to accept the draw as unchangeable.

In contrast, they may not be so accepting of Gordon Strachan's starting line-up for Hearts' visit. Acclaimed for investing more confidence in younger players that his predecessor Martin O'Neill, his first 11 yesterday did not exactly bear this out. Shaun Maloney has proved Celtic's most creative and valuable performer of late, and was scintillating in his club's 5-0 thumping at Livingston in their last league outing before the international break. Yet, Alan Thompson's return to fitness and Neil Lennon being available again after a three-game ban for his Ibrox shenanigans resulted in Maloney being dropped to the bench.

The same fate did not befall Beattie. He was selected to partner Chris Sutton in the injury absence of Maciej Zurawksi, who sustained a hamstring tear in Poland's World Cup qualifier against England on Wednesday. Hearts, meanwhile, were left to rue the fact that Scotland's 3-0 victory in Slovenia provided them with their only sighting of Craig Gordon this week.

Gordon's red card in the 2-2 draw at Falkirk a fortnight ago meant a debut in the Edinburgh club's goal for Steve Banks. The experienced Englishman was an assured figure, as was true of the men in front of him. Indeed, Burley's side - with Michal Pospisil deputising for the injured Roman Bednar the only other change to an already 'classic' line-up - had a swagger about them from the off.

In a pumped-up atmosphere in the east of Glasgow that ordinarily would be reserved for Old Firm encounters or European nights, the visitors bounded around with the sort of confidence suggesting that they felt the sense of occasion was no less than befitted them. No wonder. As unbeaten Premierleague leaders going into yesterday's title-toppers tussle, they could reflect on eight straight victories before the scrambled point in the Falkirk Stadium.

If their championship credentials faced their sternest test with a trip to Celtic Park, there was no question of these surviving beyond the jaunt to Glasgow, with their opponents three points adrift of them. Perhaps this could be factored into to a willingness to take the game to Strachan's men in the opening exchanges. Twice in the opening minutes they demonstrated their intent, with Artur Boruc forced to push over a Paul Hartley effort before a driven cross found no takers. It did, however, expose the frailties of a Celtic defence that allowed outstanding pair Steven Pressley and Andy Webster to come tantalisingly close to applying a scoring touch. Hearts' excellent deliveries from free-kicks - these angled and whipped-in - caused the home side problems throughout. In a roundabout way, though, it was from a deadball situation that they found themselves a goal behind after 13 minutes.

Shunsuke Nakamura played a free-kick short to Thompson on the right flank and, in turn, the midfielder flighted a ball to the back post that Lennon headed across goal. A clearance followed, before a shooting opportunity presented itself to Beattie on the edge of the area. It is one that might have come to nothing were it not for the striker's low effort rearing up off the toe of Julien Brellier's outstretched boot and spinning past the helpless Hearts goalkeeper, who was almost beaten immediately afterwards when a Bobo Balde header struck the upright.

Good teams maximise good fortune. If this was true of Celtic taking the lead, it was equally so in Skacel restoring parity only two minutes later. He did so after there appeared nothing for anyone to get excited about when a long ball was played deep into the Celtic half. But Paul Telfer took this too far and opted to let it drift back to Boruc, seemingly unaware of how rapidly Skacel was closing in. It proved a gross misjudgment, with the ball coming up short before it was firmly in the goalkeeper's hands. The result was the Czech being able to hack the ball free and knock it into an empty net, despite Telfer's efforts to retrieve the situation.

A meaty, mesmerising encounter that only ever appeared one particularly bad challenge away from producing a melee, the manner in which the two teams set about each other could be attributed to a little bit of history as much as the little matter of the league leadership. There was petty squabbling at regular intervals, while stray boots and angry words that resulted from Thompson and Pressley clashing six minutes before half-time might have brought more than cautions for both.

The break was bookended by flying stops from Banks, who denied Thompson and Beattie. He then repeated the trick from a free-kick by Maloney, shortly after the Scotland attacker had replaced Thompson in the 63rd minute. It was keepers to the fore during this period, indeed, with Boruc having earlier blocked at the feet of Skacel.

The heads of Sutton and substitute John Hartson, thereafter, should have made more of juicy crosses as Strachan's side attempted, in ever more direct fashion, to force the pace and force the ball into Hearts' final third. Whenever they did this, though, Burley's backline were unyielding. How unyielding Hearts will continue to prove in defending their league leadership is a question no-one can answer yet. It is a poser, however, that is sure to be giving Old Firm supporters many a sleepless night.

Taken from the Scotsman