BE AFRAID .. BE VERY AFRAID

CELTIC boss Gordon Strachan last night paid Hearts the ultimate compliment when he rated them as potential title winners after the clubs drew 1-1 at Parkhead.

Strachan's troops took the lead through Craig Beattie in 13 minutes but the Jambos grabbed a quick-fire leveller when Rudi Skacel pounced on a mistake by defender Paul Telfer for his eighth goal of the season.

That strike kept George Burley's side three points ahead of Celtic and 10 in front of champions Rangers who face Dundee United at Tannadice this afternoon.

Strachan was impressed by the Tynecastle side's gutsy display and reckons they'll be right up there with the Old Firm when the SPL campaign reaches a climax.

He said: "If you know your football you'll take Hearts seriously. If you don't know football you won't take them seriously.

"If they can keep it going then great. It will make it harder for us but it's great for Scottish football to have such competition at the top of the league."

Strachan refused to blame Telfer for the Hearts leveller and said: "The goal just didn't look right to me - it was a mistake on our part. But there won't be any inquest. I never asked Paul about it. Was it his fault?

"I always thought this game would take a bit of genius or a mistake. The goal we conceded was a mistake.

"It was an intense match, it just flew by. In terms of excitement it was better than expected. A lot of thought was put in by the teams about how they would line up against each other. Hearts defended well and credit to them for that. In terms of pressing them in search of a winning goal we gave it our all.

"I said before the game Hearts are a good side and they added something extra in the summer to the quality players they already had.

"They will continue to give problems to every side."

Burley - who will this week assess veteran Germany striker Fredi Bobic in training with a view to signing the former Hertha Berlin star permanently - was delighted with a point.

He said: "We started well and took the game to Celtic.

"We came here with no fears and gave Celtic problems in a smashing match.

"It was a great advert for Scottish football and there was plenty of goalmouth action as well as a lot of quality.

"We had to show character and we had that in abundance. In fact, we've had it in abundance all season.

"That's now 10 games undefeated - eight wins and two draws - and we're top of the league. We need to build on the good achievement so far."

Burley admitted he will need to bring in new players during the transfer window and said: "We have Fredi Bobic coming in and we'll see how he does"We also want to add to the team in January. You never know what is around the corner in football so we can't sit back and think everything will keep going the way it has been for the first couple of months of the season."

Burley also praised keeper Steve Banks who stood in for the suspended Craig Gordon.

The Hearts boss said: "Steve was outstanding. We brought him in to help Craig Gordon's development and he has been a terrific signing."

But Burley couldn't find anything nice to say about referee Dougie McDonald and standside linesman Tom Murphy.

Skacel was booked for overdoing the celebrations after his crucial equaliser. It's the fourth time this season the Czech star has been yellow carded for the same offence.

Burley blasted: "I was amazed Rudi was booked. It was a ridiculous decision. He put just one stud outside the pitch.

"It was a worry for us after that because you start to think if it will lead to a red card

Taken from the Sunday Mail