All over bar shouting

by Ronnie Cully

THE bawling which emanated from the away dressing room was indecipherable. Nevertheless, the message came through loud and clear.

If there was anyone unperturbed about the result against Hearts, it sure wasn't Celtic manager Gordon Strachan.

The 3-0 victory for the Champions League-chasing Jam Tarts hurt third-placed Rangers. But it cut Strachan every bit as much, as evidenced by his post-match tirade.

Sure, the medal for winning the title in his debut season at the club is safely locked away. Unlike Jose Mourinho, he did not feel disposed to slinging it into the crowd.

And, to all intents and purposes, there is no real tangible benefit to be gained from continuing to play at full tilt as the fixture list comes to its conclusion.

However, don't suggest any of the above within earshot of Strachan, lest it becomes your turn to take the kind of verbal volley aimed at his players as they prepared to change into their civvies and head to last night's SPFA awards, where one of their own, Shaun Maloney, was to pick up the big prizes.

To his way of thinking, standards have been set this season - no, make that standards have been dragged up through hard work and practice. And, as manager of Celtic, Strachan has no intention of sitting back and watching players let them slip.

That's not how he operates on his watch, and it is certainly not how his players will be allowed to operate.

Of course, it's still very much a learning curve for manager and players alike. Strachan is still getting to know them, just as they are slowly but surely getting to know him.

And this is unchartered water for all involved, having cruised to the title so early in the season.

But, while draws against Hibs and Rangers in the previous two games may have hinted at a drop in performance level, the defeat at Tynecastle confirmed it.

Hence a few home truths being delivered by the man who tried all he could from the confines of the technical area to get his side out of first gear and firing on a few more cylinders.

Not even the warning set- pieces would determine the outcome of the result had been heeded. All week, Strachan told his men to be as careful as possible about conceding free-kicks in dangerous areas, and, if they did do so, to ensure they were alert to the type of deadly delivery Paul Hartley has made his trademark this season.

Strachan reflected: "Hearts deserved to win over the piece, but I'd said to the players free-kicks were going to be huge in this game.

"And we allowed them to get them because we didn't deal with the first ball coming forward, and that was a problem.

"The first goal was a bit of a freak because it was an own goal, but the second was a fantastic strike."

That opener came from the head of Stephen McManus, who unwittingly deflected Hartley's whizzing delivery over the head of keeper Artur Boruc, ironically, at the same end where the Celtic defender had scored a double to give his side victory in the pivotal New Year's Day fixture.

McManus might have delivered another body blow to Hearts this time around, had Craig Gordon not pulled off a fantastic stop in the opening two minutes of this game, the first of a series of saves the Scotland keeper performed to deny Celtic.

Indeed, as Strachan was to reflect, despite not hitting their stride, his side probably made more decent goalscoring opportunities in this game than they did in any of the three others played against Hearts this season, a combination of Gordon's ability and poor finishing preventing any being converted.

By contrast, Hearts had the killer touch in front of goal to give an end product to their quick breaks, no-one more so than Hartley, whose quick thinking after Stan Varga had brought down Roman Bednar 20 yards out allowed him to curl his free-kick beyond Boruc while the keeper was still organising his wall.

The Celtic players were aggrieved, not so much that the kick to put them two down was taken before they were ready, but by the fact that referee Alan Freeland foolishly accepted the handshake offered by the goalscorer during his celebrations.

With just eight minutes on the clock, it was a definite case of deja vu, as Celtic had trailed by the same scoreline after nine minutes of the January 1 game, only to hit back and win.

Lightning did not strike twice, however, and Hearts made the game safe with a third goal on 62 minutes.

Bednar proved he is not just a powerful forager, but also a deadly one, accepting Hartley's pass to beat the offside trap executed by the slow-turning Celtic defence and digging the ball out from under his feet to coolly despatch it round the advancing Boruc.

Strachan had seen enough and threw on Stilian Petrov, Stephen Pearson and John Hartson over the next 10 minutes. But, despite this increased firepower, the breakthrough eluded them.

Even the 'spat' between Neil Lennon and Rudi Skacel could not spark Celtic into action, the Hearts man not for the first time becoming embroiled in a spitting incident which, incredibly, saw the Celtic captain booked for taking umbrage at the Czech's liquid lob.

Strachan wisely decided to remove his man from the firing line as his side lost for the first time since crashing out of the Scottish Cup against Clyde on January 8.

It was also their first league defeat since going down to Dunfermline on November 26, and their biggest defeat since Bratislava last July.

For all that, it was no easier to take. And, if Strachan's words have any effect, it will also be their last defeat of the season.

Taken from Evening Times