Celtic 3-0 Hearts

Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink, Scott McDonald and Andreas Hinkel were the scorers in what was far from a one sided contest. The away side gave as good as they got but in the end could not make their impressive midfield play count, missing countless chances on the way to a disappointing defeat.

Injury to Michael Stewart resulted in the only change from the Hearts line-up that defeated Gretna last Saturday, Eggert Jonsson came into the midfield as Hearts kept their 4-4-1-1 approach with Audrius Ksanavicius playing off the on-fire Andrius Velicka. Celtic lined up in their usual 4-4-2 with Massimo Donatti replacing Paul Hartley in the centre of the park.

The game started off in familiar fashion with Celtic dominating the first twenty minutes. Hearts struggled to maintain possession and the home team came at them with a constant stream of attacks.

Eggert Jonsson and Robbie Neilson stop McGeady

On five minutes, following a foul from Eggert Jonsson on Scott McDonald, Shunsuke Nakamura curled a great free kick that fooled Steve Banks but came back off the back post. The rebound then fell to Scott McDonald who failed to get the ball under control and the ball drifted slowly into the hands of a relieved Steve Banks.

Five minutes later it was Nakamura again who came close to giving his side the lead. He was given time inside the Hearts penalty area to pick his spot and curled the ball around the defence and towards the back post. Despite being initially unsighted, Banks got down to push the shot away.

The Hearts rear guard had battled hard to keep their clean sheet record in tact, but there was little they could do to stop Celtic's opening goal. Aiden McGeady picked the ball up 20 yards out, the winger twisted and turned before sending over a clever cross into the six-yard box where Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink was on hand to stab the ball over Banks and into the net.

A repeat of the five-goal hammering in August seemed inevitable at this point, Hearts were struggling to cope with the constant Celtic pressure and the travelling support would have been forgiven for thinking 'Here we go again'. Though losing the goal seemed to spur on the visitors who proceeded to dominate Celtic for the next fifteen minutes and should have seen themselves pull level.

Celtic take the lead

On 24 minutes Celtic were saved by their captain as Stephen McManus managed to clear the danger from under his own cross bar after a Audrius Ksanavicius cross had floated over Boruc and looked destined for the head of Andrius Velicka.

Velicka was then guilty of missing a guilt edge chance to get his team back into the match. Ksanavicius played in Driver with an accurately weighted through ball, the winger shot low across goal but Boruc was equal to it. Velicka was first to react but from six yards he sent his shot high into the side netting. In fairness the Lithuanian had to hurry his finish due to pressure from McManus but he really should have scored.

The second half continued in the same vein as the first - with the Celtic defence failing to deal with the pace of Andrew Driver. A ball over the top from Ruben Palazeulos led to the winger beating three Celtic players in a sprint but his tired legs only produced a weak shot that was comfortably saved by Boruc.

Hearts were made to pay for their missed opportunities when Celtic doubled their lead on 50 minutes. Steve Banks produced a great save to deny Shunsuke Nakamura but could do nothing to stop Scott McDonald who nodded home the second goal of the game from the resulting corner. Serious questions have to be asked of the Hearts defence who allowed the unmarked striker a completely free header from six yards out.

Audrius Ksanavicius and Scott Brown battle

Velicka was then inches away from getting Hearts back into the match on 54 minutes. The in form striker drove a shot that only narrowly missed Boruc's right hand post. The attempt had the keeper beaten, which is possibly the reason why he wanted to square up to his captain Stephen McManus; trouble in paradise?

The away side refused to lie down and only a few minutes later Hearts had another chance to get back into the match. This time the ball fell to Eggert Jonsson but the youngster was off balance as he shot and Boruc comfortably saved his attempt on goal. The game was being played at a riotous pace with Nakamura almost producing a moment of genius a minute later. The midfielder attempted a wonder strike from 30 yards that just dropped over the crossbar.

Hearts couldn't believe their bad luck on 73 minutes when, first of all, Christian Nade was denied a penalty as referee Dougie McDonald oddly judged the foul to have taken place outside the box. Then from the resulting free kick the ball dropped to Berra who couldn't quite find the control or composure as he stabbed the ball wide.

Celtic then killed the game on 76 minutes. McGeady controlled the ball inside the box before playing in Andreas Hinkel who smashed the ball past Banks for a comfortable 3-0 lead.

The scoreline may suggest a one-sided contest but that was far from the case today. Hearts, players and fans alike, must be wondering what they had done wrong to deserve such bad luck today.

Celtic were good and Hearts matched them all over the park but football is all about scoring. The away side had no cutting edge in the final third while Celtic capitalised on every slip up committed by their opponents defence. It's never pleasant to leave Glasgow on the end of a 3-0 defeat but the players can take some pride from what was a committed performance.

Celtic: Boruc; Hinkel, Caldwell, McManus, Naylor; Nakamura, Donatti (Robson 77), Brown, McGeady; MacDonald (Hutchison 87), Venigoor of Hesselink (Samaras 72). Subs not used: Brown, O'Dea, Sno, Hartley.

Hearts: Banks; Neilson, Karipidis, Berra, Goncalves; Cesnauskis (Mikoliunas 67), Jonsson, Palazuelos, Driver; Ksanavicius (Nade 72); Velicka. Subs not used: Basso, Wallace, McCann, Elliot, Zaliukas.

Referee: Dougie McDonald

Top man: Andrew Driver

Hearts World