NOW LET US FINISH THE JOB

PAUL HARTLEY helped his team-mates finally avenge their Ne'erday heartache then called on them to finish the job against Aberdeen.

Hearts moved to within three points of clinching second spot in the SPL and the chance to play Champions League football next season with a thumping 3-0 win over Celtic at Tynecastle.

Man-of-the-match Hartley ran the show, grabbing his 16th goal of the season and setting up the two other strikes as the Gorgie boys moved four points clear of Rangers with two league games remaining.

It was the first time all season Celtic had failed to score away from home in the SPL and handed Hearts their first victory over the Parkhead champions in the campaign after a draw and two defeats.

Hartley reckoned the resounding win finally erased the memory of the 3-2 defeat at Tynecastle on January 1 when Celtic came from two down to win in controversial circumstances.

Defender Stephen McManus was the Hoops hero that day with a late double but yesterday he did the Jambos a favour with a first half own-goal from a Hartley free-kick.

The Scottish Cup finalists sealed the points after the interval when Hartley played through Roman Bednar for the third as the Hearts fans celebrated in the sun.

The party will be in full swing again on Wednesday night if they can defeat the Dons and render the final game of the season at Ibrox next Sunday meaningless.

It may effectively fall into that category in midweek anyway if rivals Rangers fail to win at Hibs on Tuesday night.

Hartley shrugged off the praise from Valdas Ivanauskas claiming he is one of the best midfielders in Europe, said: "It was nice of Valdas to pay me the compliment but this was a terrific team performance today because we knew we were under a lot of pressure.

"Rangers' victory at Kilmarnock cut our lead in second place to a point and made it a must-win against Celtic. Now if we take three points on Wednesday night we'll finish second for sure.

"There's no doubt the memory of that game on New Year's Day was a motivation going into this one.

"We went two up in that game and blew it and were determined it wouldn't happen again.

"It was important for us to beat Celtic because we haven't won against them all season and there was also a wee bit of revenge in there after the defeat in January.

"We re-grouped in the dressing room at half time today and told ourselves to maintain our focus and concentration because of what happened the last time. We haven't always started well in the second half this season but we stood firm today. The third goal gave us the breathing space we needed and as soon as it went in we knew we had the match wrapped up.

"It will be a tough game on Wednesday because Aberdeen will not come here and lie down. But if we play as well as we did today then we'll hopefully win the game.

"We're so close to clinching second spot. We don't want to give it up and I'm sure we won't and it'll be nice to finish the league season on a high after everything that's gone on.

"There has been so much written about the club every single week. There has been criticism at times, not of the players but the owners and I'm sure everyone at the club would be delighted if we can secure second spot.

"We all want to get the job done on Wednesday night and, of course, it would prevent another nail-biter against Rangers next week."

Hartley told Celtic fans they had no right to raise a question about the validity of his goal, a quick free-kick that left Artur Boruc grasping thin air. Celtic players claimed the Scotland midfielder took the free-kick before ref Alan Freeland blew his whistle but Hartley revealed he has already cleared it with the official.

He said: "I asked the ref if I could take it quickly and he said yes. I then saw Boruc try to line up his wall but he left a big gap to the right. I struck the ball well and thankfully it went in.

"It was one of those - sometimes they go in, other times they don't and thankfully it did.

"My total of 16 goals is my best for a season. They were even trying to give me the first but I'm not taking it as it was definitely an own goal.

"Now we have the chance to go to the Champions League and that means everything. I love watching it on TV and to play in it would be great.

"I'm not saying we'd qualify because we'd still have a qualifying round to play, but we've hopefully given ourselves a chance."

Hartley and skipper Steven Pressley both defended Celtic's performance as Rangers looked to their greatest rivals, for once, to win. The Hoops played like a team looking forward to the end of the season, although they still created several good chances.

Hartley said: "It was a difficult game today. Celtic played well in stages and might have scored a couple of goals. There's no way they came here and lied down - just look at the team they put out.

"The pressure has been on us in the last couple of months with Rangers clawing back the gap.

"Everyone has been asking questions about us but we answered them in the right way with our performance.

"Some people might have expected us to bottle it but we showed the spirit and character we have in our dressing room."

Skipper Pressley, outstanding on his return from a back injury, added: "We played at such a high tempo and anyone who witnessed our performance certainly couldn't make any accusations against Celtic about a lack of effort.

"It was a first-class game of football with both teams going for it. It was blood and thunder and a fantastic advertisement for Scottish football."

Taken from the Daily Record