Crash Gordon

Michael Grant reports from Parkhead as a rare goalkeeping error hands Celtic a 2-1 win over Hearts – and possibly the Premierleague title

WHAT hope does anyone have of stopping Celtic if they can even call upon a Craig Gordon mistake to win them a match? A mis judgment by the excellent Hearts and Scotland goalkeeper handed Celtic a winning goal four minutes into stoppage time at Parkhead yesterday to ease the champions 13 points clear at the top of the SPL table.

“It could be another 10 years until Craig Gordon does anything like that again,” said Gordon Strachan, the Celtic manager. But probably only six months until he is presented with the championship trophy once more.

At a corner kick into a crowded goalmouth, Gordon allowed a spinning Stephen McManus shot to squirt away from his hands into the net, giving Celtic an undeserved 2-1 win soon after Jiri Jarosik had equalised Hearts’ 73rd minute opener from Andrius Velicka. “Craig was fine in the dressing room afterwards,” said team-mate Robbie Neilson, who was also beaten by the flight of the ball. “It’s not his fault. He is probably the best goalkeeper in Britain, so I’m not going to criticise him. That’s football.”

Instead of a Hearts victory which would have breathed new life into the title race, Celtic’s ninth consecutive league win effectively meant an additional six-point swing at the top. After only 13 rounds of fixtures they have the league by the throat, good news only for their supporters and those who backed them with bookmakers Paddy Power, who were paying out last night.

Convention dictates that managers in these situations give the illusion that a contest remains competitive, and Strachan obliged by saying it was impossible to be sure that yesterday’s was a pivotal result. “I really don’t know. You never know what the pivotal results turn out to be. This result might mean nothing at the end of the season, or it might mean everything. We have never claimed to be a good side, or a great side or anything like that. But Hearts were excellent and we were disappointing, and we are 13 points ahead. It’s not bad.”

He would not discuss speculation that Celtic are to make a formal approach to John Park, the director of Hibs’ youth academy.

Hearts will slip to third if Rangers win at Dundee United today. Interim head coach Eduard Malofeev said: “Is the title race over? We are going to learn how to run quickly and we are going to get them. It is not going to be interesting if we all stop playing, so we will fight until the very end.”

Taken from the Sunday Herald