Celtic celebrate Hartson's party trick

Match details

Celtic (1) 1 Hearts (0) 0

A birthday goal from John Hartson - 31 yesterday - secured Celtic's 40th Scottish championship against a Hearts side in typically obdurate form on an evening when the caretaker Tynecastle coach, Valdas Ivanauskas, was sent to the stand in the second half for disputing the referee's decision not to award a penalty when Roman Bednar went to ground in a challenge with Bobo Balde.
Celtic celebrate
Bhoys brigade: Celtic players celebrate lifting the title

Had Hearts left with a point, few would have begrudged them their reward, but the gulf of 20 points between them and the new champions testifies to how efficiently Celtic have redeemed their season after starting with a 5-0 hammering by Artmedia Bratislava in Gordon Strachan's first game in charge.

With the benefit of 10 days' undisturbed preparation for this game, Celtic enjoyed exactly the opening Strachan would have wished for in a contest against their nearest pursuers. The goal which gave Celtic a margin of comfort came in the simplest fashion. Paul Telfer, edging forward from his full-back beat, hoisted a long ball towards the front pair of Hartson and Maciej Zurawski.

The Polish forward read it correctly and headed down ahead of his attacking colleague. Hartson was not in an ideal position for a snap-shot but he adjusted his body and managed to get enough purchase on the ball to carry it away from Craig Gordon, who seemed to be braced for a more direct effort and was unable to do more than divert it across the line to his right.

With their next real foray into the Hearts box, Hartson was permitted another chance to score when Zurawski wriggled into space and chipped back across the six-yard box. Hartson could not get power on his header, which bounced tamely into Gordon's arms, but what must have alarmed Ivanauskas was the ease with which the Welshman was able to reach the cross, despite the proximity of two defenders.

Celtic had to wait until three minutes from the interval to animate Gordon again, this time with a Shunsuke Nakamura free-kick from distance which did not force the goalkeeper into any heroics.

As the teams went in at the break, the atmosphere was oddly subdued. Celtic Park had been sold out for over a week prior to this fixture but there were empty seats and the impression was that most of the crowd were content to watch the game meander towards a celebratory finish.

The onus, then, was on Hearts to bring more pressure to bear on the champions-elect and a look at their bench suggested that, if the restart did not produce some change to the pattern of play, Ivanauskas would have to turn to the likes of Rudi Skacel, Michael Pospisil and Callum Elliot.

On the other hand, mindful of the fact that the title was out of reach but that the runners-up position was still attainable - and with it a Champions League qualifying berth - Ivanuaskas had to be careful not to allow Hearts' favourable goal difference to be eroded in favour of third-placed Rangers.

Sure enough, Hearts emerged from the dressing-room with evident purpose and they were aggrieved to see what they felt was a legitimate equaliser chalked off for offside four minutes into the second period.

Paul Hartley was the architect with a free-kick which Roman Bednar headed back across goal for Andy Webster to turn across the line. All eyes turned towards the Main Stand linesman, whose flag went up by instalments, truncating Webster's celebrations.

The expected Hearts substitutions then materialised, with first Edgaras Jankauskas limping off to be replaced by Pospisil before the Tynecastle fans' favourite, Skacel, arrived to animate the Edinburgh side further.

Bednar came close to levelling the game with a shot that Artur Boruc could only divert, but he was rescued by Telfer, who booted clear. Skacel was next to try his luck with a run and drive that produced the same response from Boruc, a parry that led to nothing.

Match details

Celtic (4-4-2): Boruc; Telfer, Balde, McManus, Wilson; Nakamura (Pearson 58), Lennon, Petrov, Maloney (McGeady 82); Hartson (Dublin 69), Zurawski.
Subs: Marshall (g), Thompson, Varga, Wallace.
Booked: Hartson, Telfer.
Hearts (4-4-2): Gordon; Neilson, Berra, Webster, Fyssas; Mikoliunas (Skacel 62), Brellier (Elliot 85), Hartley, Cesnauskis; Bednar, Jankauskas (Pospisil 54).
Subs: Banks (g), Tall, Aguiar, Petras.
Booked: Fyssas, Brellier, Elliot.
Referee: Dougie McDonald.

Taken from telegraph.co.uk