Hearts beat up champion

Hearts 3 Celtic 0
HEARTS took a huge step towards clinching second spot in the Scottish Premier League and a place in the Champions League at Tynecastle today (AEST).

A Stephen McManus own goal and a Paul Hartley free-kick within the first nine minutes put the Edinburgh team on the road to a crucial victory over the new champion.

Czech striker Roman Bednar then scored the third to tie-up the win which moved Hearts four points clear of third-placed Rangers, with only two games remaining, and put it within touching distance of qualifying for next season's Champions League.

Hearts's caretaker coach Valdas Ivanauskas was delighted with his players' display.

The Lithuanian said: "It was a fantastic result and a great performance but we needed to concentrate for 90 minutes as we know how dangerous Celtic can be.

"In the game against them on New Year's Day we were winning 2-0 at half-time but they still won. Thankfully they didn't do that today and it was the perfect performance by us."

Celtic manager Gordon Strachan refuted suggestions his side had not given its all, after a result that makes it increasingly unlikely Old Firm rival will be playing Champions League football next season.

He said: "Anyone who watched that game will see we wanted to win the game. There was nothing wrong with our attitude and fought hard but the difference was they took their chances and we didn't.

"Their goalkeeper Craig Gordon made three fantastic saves during the game.

"Hearts power play was too much for us, which is disappointing, but the players have shown terrific attitude and appetite over the season and that is why we are 16 points ahead of them."

Celtic started the game brightly and should have been ahead in the second minute when Stanislav Varga headed Shunsuke Nakamura's free-kick back across goal and a flick by Dion Dublin wrong-footed the Hearts defence to put McManus clean through on goal.

But the young defender lacked composure and his first-time shot from six-yards was straight at Gordon.

It was a poor start for McManus but it got a lot worse five minutes later when he put the ball into his own net to give Hearts the lead. Hartley's inswinging free-kick from the left lured the centre-half into going for the ball, but he only succeeded in sending a powerful header past his own keeper Artur Boruc from 12-yards.

And in the ninth minute the Tynecastle side doubled its advantage, emulating the January 1 start when it went two ahead early on against Celtic before finally losing 3-2.

Varga had fouled Roman Bednar at the edge of the box and referee Alan Freeland awarded a direct free kick.

As Boruc tried to organise his defensive wall, Hartley showed quick thinking to fire the ball into the top corner of the net before the Polish keeper could get back across his line.

Roy Keane missed a glorious chance to reduce the deficit in the 23rd minute when Steven Pressley's misplaced header put him one-on-one with Gordon, but he rushed his shot and hit straight at the keeper from close range.

Into the second-half Celtic hoped to repeat their come-back on New Year's Day but in the 63rd minute Hearts scored its third.

Bednar latched on to Hartley's clever sliding pass and the Czech striker controlled the ball before clinically passing it into the net from 12-yards.

HEARTS 3 (McManus 7 og, Hartley 9, Bednar 63.
CELTIC 0
Referee: A Freeland
Crowd: 16,795 at Tynecastle.