Rix blames referee as Celtic hit back to snatch win

THE new year arrived in perhaps predictably fractious fashion in Edinburgh yesterday as Celtic became the first-footers nobody would wish for when they plundered from Tynecastle having initially looked set to be most generous guests.

The echo of the midnight bells had not long died before the cacophony of Hearts celebrating a two-goal lead was splitting the air anew. But by the time the match had ended with an extraordinary late brace from Celtic defender Stephen McManus there had settled over Tynecastle a sobering realisation that second-placed Hearts were now seven points behind their victorious opponents, and that a chase had developed where a neck-and-neck duel once had been.

It wasn't an entirely dispiriting sensation since there were enough elements of injustice to stoke the fans' fury, and it erupted in vivid scenes at the end of the match. Remarkably, one fan managed to leap onto the roof of the away dug-out as the teams left the pitch, with referee Iain Brines one of many likely targets.

Brines showed a red card to Hearts defender Takis Fyssas after the Greek international had been adjudged to have deprived Shaun Maloney of a goal-scoring opportunity. Celtic had already begun to look menacing, substitute Stephen Pearson cutting the deficit in half with a goal just minutes after replacing Stilian Petrov. Celtic manager Gordon Strachan interpreted Pearson's introduction as the turning point but Hearts' head coach Graham Rix will take some convincing that the game's pivotal moment didn't arrive in the 76th minute, with Fyssas' ordering off.

"I have seen it again in slow mo and I am not sure there was any contact, I am not sure he was going to score and I think the ball was going out for a goal-kick in any case," said Rix. He added that he had spoken to the SPL delegate present at the match, and no doubt had made him aware of Hearts' grievance. It was made more profound by an incident in the first half when Celtic defender Bobo Balde felled Deividas Cesnauskis just outside the box, and was given only a yellow card. Cesnauskis had just latched onto a superb Calum Elliot lay-off and was bearing down on goal when Balde intervened in typically robust fashion.

"It was a similar situation, perhaps more central," complained Rix. "And he only got a yellow." The head coach also bemoaned the concession of two free-kicks on the stand-side touchline as the game moved into its final, critical moments. The first - a Rudi Skacel foul on Ross Wallace - led to Celtic's equaliser, and the second, in the first minute of injury time, prompted the winning goal. "They were needless free-kicks - silly really," said Rix, who watched with the same amazement as everyone else in the 17,358 crowd as McManus pounced on both occasions to turn the first day of 2006 on its head for Hearts.

Rix strove manfully to accentuate the positives of an afternoon which saw Hearts offer perhaps their most accomplished first-half performance of the season. "I can't remember Craig Gordon having too much to do," he said. "Fair play to Celtic, they played very well in the second half. But to play as we did and still get nothing is hard to take."

Rix found opposite number Strachan a willing subscriber to this assessment that Hearts were an unanswerable force in the opening half. The Celtic manager admitted some of the home team's football had taken his breath away but said he remained optimistic that a salvage job was achievable after the half-time break. Less predictable had been the identity of Celtic's inspirations. That yesterday was of significance to Pearson did not surprise. However, most expected its importance would have more to do with the opening of the transfer window than his endeavours in a Celtic shirt. Now Strachan says it would make him "not very clever" to sanction the player's departure, even on loan.

"We had new heroes today," he said. "There are guys here who have been doing it for five years here, taking pressure and winning games. Somebody else can do it now."

It was the less predictable names doing the damage for Hearts in the early stages too, with 19 year-old striker Elliot a constant threat. He began the move which led to Hearts' opening goal, from Edgaras Jankauskas, and drew praise from Rix. The whole team's performance was worthy of plaudits and even Strachan revealed he had been impressed by the exhibition. "They were excellent in the first half an hour," he said. "The support from the midfield to the front was excellent. It took my breath away for half an hour."

But what later took the breath away was the ferocity of Celtic's comeback, staged as it was in the twilight stages of a game that opened with such a bang, and which inspired such a tumult at the end. Strachan was asked whether he'd been taken aback by the raw emotion being whipped up just behind his shoulder. "I was expecting it," he said, having clearly been alerted to the barminess that can sometimes affect Tynecastle on these high-octane occasions. "We were okay."

Taken from the Scotsman