Winning Hearts and minds now Strachan's task

Having trailed by two goals at one stage, the 3-2 triumph gave Gordon Strachan's men a key psychological edge in the race for the Scottish title.

Could this latest meeting between these two great rivals, even at this early stage, be a turning point in the new campaign?

Certainly, following their richly deserved 2-1 win in Edinburgh yesterday, Hearts players will now justifiably believe they are capable of finishing top.

Valdas Ivanauskas' men dominated the visitors from start to finish and the narrow margin of victory should have been far greater.

Roman Bednar, who netted both of his side's goals, had another perfectly legitimate strike wrongly ruled offside by assistant referee Gary Cheyne.

This result was achieved with three of Hearts' most important players - Edgaras Jankauskas, Paul Hartley and Takis Fyssas - all looking on.

Celtic will now realise they need a stark improvement, and quickly, if they are to go on and retain their Scottish crown.

Quite how that turnaround will be achieved, though, after such an inept defensive display is sure to be causing Strachan major concern. Aside from equalising with a sublime goal, the Parkhead club toiled.

Indeed, Scotland goalkeeper Craig Gordon between the Hearts sticks only had one other save of note to make and even that was from a deflected Stilian Petrov shot.

Strachan also has important players to return in Bobo Balde, Shaun Maloney and Craig Beattie. He is obviously lacking in strength in depth just now.

The departure of Petrov appears imminent. The sturdy Bulgarian has been linked with a move to club Aston Villa after Martin O'Neill took over as manager on Friday.

It was unfortunate that Strachan's new signings - Kenny Miller, Jiri Jarosik and Gary Caldwell - had indifferent games and are clearly still struggling to find their feet.

Neil Lennon's fortunes were particularly concerning for Celtic supporters.

Having been suspended last week for the opening game against Kilmarnock at Parkhead, Lennon was left out of the starting line-up altogether by Strachan.

His arrival, as a replacement for Miller in the second-half, was to prove calamitous.

An inexplicable pass-back in 87 minutes left goalkeeper Artur Boruc stranded as Bednar nipped in to pinch possession and score the winner from an acute angle.

Lennon has been a vital component of every Celtic team in the last six years and he is a strong enough character to bounce back from this disappointment.

His involvement in the midweek friendly defeat to Yokohama Marinos in Japan may also have affected his performance levels and concentration.

However, at 35, it remains to be seen to what extent he will be involved both at home and in Europe this year.

Strachan's day was equally fraught. After a frank exchange of views with Hearts assistant John McGlynn, the pair were ordered off by referee Stuart Dougal just before half-time.

Dougal was badly advised by fourth official Calum Murray as Strachan, unlike McGlynn, had clearly remained inside his technical area as the rammy raged.

The Celtic manager's mood darkened at the end of a miserable day after the final whistle. He claimed Dougal had reneged on an agreement he had made at half-time, to outline his reasons for the decision.

Taken from Evening Times