Hearts' confidence shattered as McManus steals the show

BOTH camps had insisted before this match that the seven-point lead which would result from a Celtic victory could by no means be regarded as conclusive in this league campaign. That may be so, but the astonishing manner in which this win was achieved might prove more telling than the extra points which it yielded.

Hearts played as well as they have done all season in the first half, scoring twice and looking threatening every time they broke upfield. Their standards did not slip by that much in the second period, but they ended up being utterly overwhelmed. Regaining their collective confidence will be no easy matter, even if they can take some solace from the fact that they remained a goal up until Takis Fyssas was sent off 15 minutes from time.

The self-belief of Celtic, on the other hand, will surely gain a massive boost. Beleaguered for the first 45 minutes, they seized a foothold in the contest with a goal from Stephen Pearson, then ended the game in irresistible fashion, snatching victory with two late goals in a manner reminiscent of some of the great Celtic campaigns of recent years.

Any side which loses at home to Dunfermline, as Gordon Strachan's team did in November, clearly suffers from a serious lack of consistency, and Hearts will hope the problem recurs in the coming months. Yet, while there are evident flaws in the make-up of the side, notably in the centre of defence, some of those may be removed by judicious purchases now that the transfer window is open. Moreover, the arrival of Roy Keane will further bolster Celtic's burgeoning esprit de corps.

There was an element of fortune to the visiting team's victory - or, from Hearts' perspective, an element of injustice in both the red card for Fyssas and the two free-kick awards which led to Stephen McManus's late brace of goals - but that too should help them believe that they can win the SPL title by a fair margin. Football teams are forever convinced that the fates are either smiling on them or conspiring against them, and in the former case play with an extra spring in their step.

Given the way the first half developed, it was curious that the first chance of the match actually fell to Celtic. It was created by Alan Thompson, whose introduction in place of Aiden McGeady was the only change to either team from their previous outings six days earlier. Receiving the ball close to the left touchline, Thompson cut inside Paul Hartley then crossed from the byline. The ball found Stilian Petrov in space at the back post, but the Bulgarian headed over the bar.

Barely a minute later, Hearts were in the lead. Fyssas found Calum Elliot around halfway, and the teenager sent Hartley clear on the left flank. Hartley raced into the box, evading the attentions of Neil Lennon, then crossed for Jankauskas. The Lithuanian stretched out and got a touch before Artur Boruc could gather; although the last contact the ball made before crossing the line was actually with the hand of Ross Wallace, the goal was rightly credited to the striker.

Celtic hardly had time to recover from that blow when they found themselves two down. It came from the most straightfoward of moves, one which Hearts had been practising for the previous few matches: a corner from Rudi Skacel to Steven Pressley at the back post. A more well-organised defence might have snuffed out the danger, but as it was no Celtic player got more than the slightest touch to the ball before it reached the Hearts captain, who headed in from a tight angle.

The league leaders' defence continued to look nervy, but to their credit the team's more creative players maintained their composure as they tried to mount a fightback. They spent the rest of the half doing so in vain, however, and only troubled Craig Gordon on a couple of occasions. Indeed, Hearts had as many opportunities to extend their lead as Celtic did to reduce it. The two most notable ones fell to Skacel, first when he headed just wide from an Elliot cross, and then when a volley was blocked by Boruc.

The continuing discomposure of Celtic's centre-backs was shown when both were booked in the closing minutes of the half - Bobo Balde for a trip on Deividas Cesnauskis just outside the box, McManus for a two-footed tackle on Jankauskas. Yet, while they remained vulnerable, for as long as they were only two goals down the contest was still alive. The loss of Petrov to injury a few minutes after the restart looked like being a blow, but in fact it was his replacement, Stephen Pearson, who kickstarted the Celtic fightback with a goal just a few minutes after coming off the bench. The flag stayed down when Shaun Maloney broke down the left, and the substitute was well placed to volley in his cross from four or five yards.

Elliot, whose support play had been outstanding in the first half, had a couple of chances to restore the home side's two-goal lead, but as the half wore on so Celtic grew stronger. With 20 minutes left they had the ball in the net again only to see the assistant referee flag for offside, but the incident was an illustration of the extra space they were finding.

They found even more in the last quarter of an hour, after Fyssas was sent off when Maloney went down just outside the box. The Greek defender appeared to have won the ball before any contact with Maloney, but Ian Brines, the referee, decided he had illegally prevented a goalscoring opportunity. As Fyssas walked off, Robbie Neilson was booked for protesting too vigorously.

Hearts reorganised by bringing Lee Wallace on for Cesnauskis, but they could do little to stem the Celtic tide. Both the equaliser and the winner came from free-kicks from the right by Shunsuke Nakamura: the first when Rudi Skacel fouled Paul Telfer, the second when Paul Hartley was in contact with Nakamura himself. On both occasions, McManus was the extra man in the box. The equaliser was a clean header, the winner a low shot into the corner of the net after his own clumsy touch had fallen nicely for him.

Hearts by no means capitulated, and deep into stoppage time Gordon, up in his opponents' box, saw a shot go wide. They will fight on, and the quality of their play suggests there is no risk of their falling back towards mid-table mediocrity. To regain the lead they once held, however, they will probably need some new blood of their own, and some novel slip-ups by the leaders. This campaign is now Celtic's to lose.

Taken from the Scotsman