Fighting Spirit

Celtic 3: Hearts 0
By Michael Grant at Celtic Park

EVEN A storm in a tea cup can give clues about the general climate. There was a fall-out between Artur Boruc and Stephen McManus during the second half yesterday which flared up and passed within seconds.

Many of those who witnessed this comfortable victory over Hearts may have missed it altogether, but it wasn't insignificant. Spats between team-mates during matches or training make great newspaper copy because they hint at dressing room splits, division and lingering animosity. Managers see them differently. They interpret them as a sign their team contains competitive characters who don't stop demanding high standards even when a game is won.

Celtic seem to have plenty of those. Neil Lennon and Aiden McGeady squared up during a match last season and Boruc and Lee Naylor did so against Spartak Moscow at the start of this one. Boruc, never backwards about coming forward, turned on McManus when Hearts were allowed a sniff of a chance, pushing him and having plenty to say for himself. McManus gave some back, and as the moment passed he waved an arm dismissively at the Celtic dug-out when manager Gordon Strachan shouted towards them. Celtic were two up and out of reach at the time; but that didn't matter to Boruc.

His competitiveness may be one of the qualities which has attracted AC Milan, whose manager Carlo Ancelotti yesterday said the European champions had been looking at him for over a year. "He belongs in the very top group of European goalkeepers," he said. There had been "no official approach", said Strachan, although a summer bid of £10 million or so would not come as a surprise. The new contract Boruc signed last month will guarantee Celtic a fee around that level. He will have a chance to impress again against Barcelona in the Champions League last 16 tie at Parkhead on Wednesday.
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Celtic go into that on the back of an eighth straight win, the last three of which have been delivered in some style. They swarmed over Hearts at the start. Shunsuke Nakamura struck the post with an early free-kick but they were not denied for long.

When Hearts partially cleared an attack the ball broke for McGeady to float a delicious cross to the box where Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink stuck out a leg to stab the ball into the net before Steven Banks could reach him. McGeady's contribution had not gone unnoticed and soon heard his name chanted his name around the stadium.

Nakamura, McDonald and Vennegoor of Hesselink impressed too, while Massimo Donati eclipsed Scott Brown in the centre. "I thought Massimo was brilliant at the start of the season and then had a dip in form as everyone else did," said Strachan. "But not being a local lad he took more pressure than anyone else. Whether it's supporters or the press it's easy to give more stick to a foreign player and be more critical."

Being from Fife has not protected Brown from criticism, mind you. Little came off for him again yesterday and, frustrated, he got into a verbal exchange with Stevie Frail of all people after trying to get the ball back from the technical area.

"The players weren't keeping anything back, the way they were running and chasing. I like to see that," said Strachan. Brown is suspended for Wednesday, with Paul Hartley likely to deputise.

Celtic did not scale the heights they had in scoring ten against Kilmarnock and Aberdeen but they were entertaining and effective. Hearts prevented the match from becoming a prolonged exhibition by recovering from the opener to finish the first half well. Their catalyst was a long pass which sent Andrew Driver racing to reach the ball before Boruc. They hurtled towards each other and met outside the penalty area but Driver, having knocked the ball too far ahead, went down without contact from Boruc and the threat petered out.

There were other Hearts moves - Andrius Velicka fired a shot into the side-netting, and then Driver raced clear again to blast an angled shot at Boruc - as Hearts took a hold of midfield. Eggert Jonsson and Ruben Palazuelos broke up Celtic's play, while Driver's pace frightened Andreas Hinkel from start to finish - although doubtless the right-back's anxiety faded as he realised Driver had no end product to show for it. If Driver could finish like Velicka it would have been a different game.

Instead, having held it to 1-0 until half time, Hearts lost their foothold in the match by losing a second early in the second half. It was a goal which infuriated them for the charity with which it was conceded. Nakamura's corner into the goalmouth was headed in by McDonald.

Simple as that, with no marking of Celtic's top scorer in front of the net. "I thought for large chunks of the game we played quite well, kept the ball and passed it," said Frail. "But we conceded two cheap goals. We gave a free header to one of the smallest men on the park."

That was McDonald's 24th goal of the season. The next was Hinkel's first. Nakamura passed to McGeady and his flick-on fed the ball into the path of Hinkel's run down the channel, from where he thrashed a finish into the net. Celtic's three substitutes each had a personal milestone: Barry Robson and Georgios Samamars came on to make their first home appearances and for Ben Hutchinson it was his full debut. Samaras had shown his ability to drift past defenders when scoring on his debut at Kilmarnock and he did so again before rifling a shot off the post from 25 yards. At the end, Boruc and his captain were pals again.

Taken from the Sunday Herald