Velicka puts Celtic to the sword

Celtic 0 - 2 Hearts

Velicka 77, 86

Ewan Murray at Celtic Park
Thursday November 1, 2007
The Guardian

The first trophy of the Scottish season will elude Celtic for the second year in succession, Heart of Midlothian having eliminated the league champions from the CIS Cup with a ruthless and superbly disciplined display.

Two late goals from the substitute Andrius Velicka ensured Hearts won in Glasgow's east end on League Cup duty for only the second time. Two morale- sapping league defeats in as many games have been forgotten; this was an occasion when Hearts, perhaps frustratingly for their vociferous followers, showed what a fine team they can be. "I think we can win the cup," said their coach, Stephen Frail, who watched his team lose 5-0 here in August. "We have just knocked out a team who beat the European champions [Milan] a few weeks ago."

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Gordon Strachan, Celtic's manager, had opted to deploy a full-strength starting XI after a quarter-final defeat to Falkirk a year ago. Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink made a welcome return from injury but Strachan remains short of strength in depth, a matter emphasised in the second half when Paul Hartley had to be deployed at left-back after an injury to Lee Naylor. "I thought for 70 minutes that there was only going to be one winner," said the Celtic manager. "We only have ourselves to blame for lacking cutting edge."

Hearts had opened brightly, Calum Elliot passing up a decent chance, and Scott McDonald missed the hosts' best effort in reply, scooping the ball over after fine build-up play from Aiden McGeady.

Confirmation of the attendance - only 21,492 - suggested the Celtic support place less significance on the CIS Cup than Strachan but anger surfaced in the stands with 13 minutes to play. Celtic's followers felt Andrew Driver had run the ball out of play on a marauding run but the whole ball had not crossed the line and Velicka collected the winger's pass and scored with an angled drive.

Celtic promptly had a let-off from the referee, Kenny Clark, as McGeady handled in his own box. It mattered not, Velicka sealing victory for his side with a stunning strike from 20 yards. Hearts join Rangers, Dundee United and Aberdeen in today's semi-final draw.

Taken from the Guardian/Observer