Gordon's gift puts Celtic in firm command

AS EVERY war has its pivotal battle, each league championship has its defining match. This latest confrontation of the Premierleague's heavy battalions may come to be identified as the one in which the outcome of the 2006-07 campaign was determined.

Celtic's seemingly impossible victory could not accurately be called a turning point, since they went into the game already holding a 10-point advantage over their closest pursuers.

But the manner of Hearts' capitulation suggests that the present champions' retention of their title may be a matter of pre-ordination.

This was a contest the Tynecastle side, astutely directed by stand-in coach Eduard Malofeev, not only should not have lost, but should have had secured long before Gordon Strachan's team were encouraged to rediscover the spirit that has propelled them to nine successive league wins.

If the maroon shirts were left feeling nauseous, it would derive from the realisation that they had, almost scandalously, squandered a golden opportunity to hurt opponents who were at their most vulnerable.

The psychological wounds from Celtic's battering by Benfica just three days earlier had clearly not healed, but it was, ultimately, Hearts who were paralysed by anxiety on the numerous occasions on which they created the chances to establish a decisive advantage.

For Strachan, substitute Jiri Jarosik's equaliser and Craig Gordon's eccentric own goal in the fifth minute of stoppage time after Andrius Velicka had given the visitors a long overdue lead would be deeply gratifying re-assurance that his players had not been permanently stripped of their self-belief by the experience in Lisbon.

During the exaggerated tensions and excitements of the closing 15 minutes - the reaction to Velicka's goal - it was the previously faltering and uncertain Celtic players who found the will to worry Hearts out of their stride and, eventually, out of the victory that could have had a far-reaching and seriously damaging effect on the champions' nerve.

Strachan, unsurprisingly, chose to dwell afterwards on his players' unshakeable tenacity, rather than a virtuosity that was largely non-existent. "Technically, one or two could have been better," said the manager, voicing one of the euphemisms of the season. "But, in that second half, they were magnificent in terms of heart, spirit and their willingness to battle. It said everything about their character. We have never claimed to be a great team, but we do have character.

"Hearts were terrific, they set themselves out properly and Paul Hartley was excellent in midfield. We weren't as sharp as we'd have liked, but we did something about that. We have played better on many occasions. Our games with Hearts tend not to be great. They're exciting and tense, but not great.

"Hearts deserve a lot of credit, but so do our players. Hearts had a whole week to prepare, where we've had maybe just 24 hours between finding out who was fit and ready after our trip to Lisbon and this game.

"As I've said before, we are still learning how to handle the two tournaments at home and in Europe. It's all brand new for us. We're just trying to acquire knowledge and it's not just four or five in the group, but all of us except Neil Lennon, the only one who's been through it all before. There are things we've learned this week which we will try to absorb and use."

Malofeev insisted afterwards that he may have made mistakes in replacing Deividas Cesnauskis with Nerijus Barasa at half-time and, more significantly, midfielder Bruno Aguiar with full-back Takis Fyssas in the 80th minute. Celtic would score their goals in the time that remained after Aguiar's removal, but the Russian's self-criticism was misplaced.

It was his strategic deployment of his players in a 4-1-4-1 formation that had bewildered Celtic, rarely allowing them anywhere near Gordon, while his own players frequently found a way through to Artur Boruc. The coach could do nothing (apart from suffer an ordeal of frustration) about their incompetence in the business of converting chances.

"I made two changes I thought were necessary before Marius Zaliukas was injured and both were unsuccessful," said Malofeev. "Making a third might also have been unsuccessful and made things worse. Gordon Strachan made a change and it worked for him, with Jarosik scoring a goal. Aguiar was tired, but now, after the game, I am thinking that maybe I should have left him on the field.

"But it's football, it's a game, and everyone makes mistakes. Velicka made mistakes that prevented him from scoring a second goal before Celtic came back."

Velicka's first example of incompetence was his miskick in front of an unprotected net, sending the shot wide after Cesnauskis had run free on the right and delivered the perfect cut-back. This was soon after Velicka himself had played a brilliant through pass to Saulius Mikoliunas, whose dilatoriness on the ball led to his being crowded out and being forced into a snap shot which Boruc saved.

Velicka would produce another poor finish after going clear on a mistake by Evander Sno and would send his drive over the bar after being released by Hartley. Ironically, he was assisted by Stephen McManus's hesitation in the challenge when he gave Hearts the lead with a beautifully-controlled low drive after being permitted a clear sight of Boruc's goal.

Nobody would be surprised at Celtic's goals coming from corner kicks from Shunsuke Nakamura. Jarosik had only to stoop as the ball dropped on the six-yard line to head the equaliser.

The scramble which followed Nakamura's second delivery ended with Gordon blocking McManus's shot into the air, chasing back as it looped towards his goal and, in stretching out his hands to make the catch, simply pushing it over the line.

Taken from the Scotsman