Celtic 1
Hearts 0

WITHOUT wishing to appear churlish and decry Celtic's most recent title triumph, it has to be said that few championships will be clinched in as uninspiring fashion as that of season 2005-06.
7 Wonders

Gordon Strachan's side have been scintillating virtually throughout this campaign, yet last night there was an evident spasmodic nature to their game as they sought to make their champions-elect status official. The primary reason for that was a retentive and in-your-face performance from Hearts.

Celtic's justification for claiming their fourth championship in six years should not be denied, for as will forever be the case the side who accumulates the highest number of points throughout a season deserves to be hailed as the country's top dogs. Prior to kick-off last night they would have hoped for an emphatic evening to seal a generally emphatic league season, but in the end they managed only to do the necessary as an inspired Hearts performance took the visitors to within a hair's breadth of a credible point in the east end of Glasgow.

With a direct and confrontational approach to the match, the men from Edinburgh managed to hem Celtic in their own half for long periods of the match, the majority of which they spent searching for an equaliser after John Hartson , below, had opened the scoring on four minutes with a speculative drive that, for once, didn't paint Craig Gordon in a particularly good light.

As Hearts huffed and puffed looking for parity, interim coach Valdas Ivanauskas was blowing the house down on the track as the emotion involved became a little too much to bear.

The Lithuanian had seen his players dominate the second period and almost deny Celtic an exit route from their own half, with Paul Hartley again at his ubiquitous best in midfield.

When Andy Webster, another visiting standout, dropped a long ball in behind the Celtic defence for Roman Bednar in the 78th minute, the Czech took a touch and headed for the penalty area looking quick enough to escape the attentions of Bobo Balde. The only option open to the Guinean was to impede his opponent as a shot was being lined up, which he did but then managed to avoid retribution largely due to Bednar's over-dramatic fall inside Artur Boruc's penalty area.

As referee Dougie McDonald waved play on, Ivanauskas became irate on the track. As his arms waved and Lithuanian expletives were fired into the air, he lashed out with his right foot at the knee-high wall which separates the front of Celtic Park's main stand enclosure from the track. Fourth official Brian Winter sought to calm him, as did his assistant John McGlynn, but when Ivanauskas refused to compose himself he was reported by Winter to McDonald. The subsequent ordering to the stand was inevitable given that the referee had already had cause to warn the Lithuanian over his conduct when an Andy Webster tap-in had rightly been disallowed for offside in the 50th minute.

On that occasion, Ivanauskas' passion for the cause had prompted him to charge 30 metres down the track in the direction of assistant referee Neil Brand, who had flagged for offside as Webster side-footed in Christophe Berra's cross-goal header from Paul Hartley's free-kick.

So with a disallowed goal and a strong penalty claim, it could be argued that Ivanauskas had reasonable cause for his feelings of unjust. "I think we could all see that Valdas got a wee bit uptight," said McGlynn. "The Lithuanians are new to this country and they aren't used to not getting these decisions, but I think they are becoming used to it now.

"We feel we were robbed and the players certainly feel that way. I think it was a penalty claim that we deserved to get. I don't see any reason why Bednar would go down in that situation when he had a clear shot at goal, and it would seem strange that he wasn't booked for diving either.

"We were also disappointed to see Andy Webster's effort ruled out because from where we were sitting it looked like a legitimate goal, but in the dressing-room after the game Andy admitted that he thought he was offside so perhaps that one was correct. Overall we feel we played well."

Having responded positively to Hartson's opener, an unexpected strike from 25 yards that sailed high into the Hearts net beyond Gordon, Hearts ended the first 45 minutes as arguably the stronger side. They approached the second half with even more vigour and soon deployed Rudi Skacel as a substitute for the ineffective Saulius Mikoliunas.

Skacel had been left on the bench in a surprise omission at the start of the match, and with both Mikoliunas and his compatriot, Deividas Cesnauskis, in the wide positions Hearts seemed best served up and down the centre of the pitch. Webster and Berra delivered a solid defensive performance in the absence of captain Steven Pressley, Hartley sprayed some wonderful passes around and Bednar's presence was always something for Balde and Stephen McManus to be mindful of.

What stood out from the Hearts display was their ball retention in an environment where it is often accepted that possession isn't something visiting teams will enjoy too much of. As a result, Celtic found themselves pinned back for most of the second period as their championship party evolved into a somewhat nervous and tense occasion.

However the sign of a quality side has long been recognised by the ability to garner a result when required to do so in not-so-pretty fashion. That's what Celtic managed last night, and in doing so completed a remarkable transformation in the fortunes of Strachan, a man who only eight months ago was being derided as joke figure amongst many Celtic support after an unconvincing start to his managerial tenure and an early exit from the Champions League to Artmedia Bratislava in the qualifying phase.

"I'm just grateful I kept the job," said Strachan, with no hint of irony. "The one thing missing from tonight was Tommy Burns. He is some man. I was told he was staying in the hospital so I tried to get a police car but I called just now and they said he's not there. He just wanted to go home and watch it on television, so you can't tell whether Tommy loved that or not."

When the final whistle finally arrived after a multitude of injury time, during which Hearts seemed to lay siege to the Celtic goal without attaining a decisive breakthrough, Strachan was being hailed a hero in the way his predecessor, Martin O'Neill, had been since the turn of the century. "One Gordon Strachan" was the chant ringing around Parkhead as the manager celebrated his first championship as a boss either side of the Border.

His players formed their huddle in the middle of the pitch whilst the Hearts players consoled one another round about them, mindless that not only had they not gained any ground on Rangers in the battle for second place in the SPL, but at the start of the evening they remained the only club mathematically capable of catching their hosts in the title race.

That, though, is an ambition for another year. For now Hearts must regroup and strive to keep a momentous Rangers challenge at bay. That starts on Saturday at when they play host to Dunfermline in Edinburgh. As for a championship challenge, well, maybe next year.

Taken from the Scotsman