Jambos give the Old Firm food for thought

BARRY ANDERSON
ON the face of it, a score draw against Celtic should be considered a creditable outcome. Yet Hearts will be entitled to feel aggrieved at not garnering full points from Saturday's enthralling encounter at Tynecastle.
At times the champions were left chasing shadows around midfield and the general consensus as they retreated to Glasgow was that their point was gratefully received.

Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink opened the scoring after 27 seconds, hooking the ball beyond a suspiciously dilatory Janos Balogh. At that stage the home support might have found themselves overcome by a sense of trepidation in pondering what lay ahead over the ensuing 89 minutes. But their side was not for surrendering and retorted by taking the game to Celtic almost instantly.

The match statistics confirm clear chances remained at a premium, however that did not reflect the entertainment on display. Hearts spent a considerable portion of the opening 45 minutes camped in Celtic territory and looked utterly determined that their manager's pre-match declaration was not mere bluster.

Csaba Laszlo opined that his side are capable of closing in on the Old Firm next season and they justified his boldness with a short, sharp passing game centring around intelligent movement interspersed with a hint of flair.

They also had the maverick talent that is Bruno Aguiar. Another free-kick, another wonder goal, and another demonstration of why this talismanic little Portuguese should be kept in Edinburgh at all costs. Artur Boruc had no answer to Aguiar's 32nd-minute equaliser as it arced up and over the Celtic wall before crashing into the net just inches inside the Pole's left post.

The second half evolved into a more even contest until the closing stages, when the visitors exerted their only sustained period of pressure during the afternoon. Laszlo willingly acknowledged his opponents' threat while acclaiming the flowing football practised by his own players against the SPL champions. He knew, as did everyone else inside Tynecastle, that sustaining this form into next season will frighten both Rangers and Celtic half to death.

"In the last five minutes Celtic were stronger and had possibilities, but before that we must decide the game," he said.

"Before this last ten minutes we played good football. It was not only enjoyable football from my team but from both teams. Especially from my team it was a very good performance and this performance, if you can keep it going, gives us a good possibility to qualify for the Europa League.

"I must make a compliment to my team. We did not lose the shape and try to throw the balls up front. This was my message to (captain] Robbie Neilson: 'We must play how we can play. Build the game in deep, use wide players and make crosses'."

Aguiar was elated after another vital contribution which sees him become Hearts' top scorer for the season with six goals. Had they greater presence in attack the hosts would surely have secured all three points, but then again piling bodies forward could have compromised their control of midfield.

"A draw with Celtic isn't so bad because they are top of the league," said Aguiar. "We still feel we should have won. We've taken points off Rangers and Celtic now and that shows we can challenge them at the top next season. It can happen."

Laszlo's discontent at conceding such an early goal was palpable. Hearts appeared strangely languid during the early exchanges and when Vennegoor of Hesselink wrapped his foot around Andreas Hinkel's cross to score it was expected that Celtic would derive much inspiration from the early advantage.

That assumption did not account for Ruben Palazuelos' input though. The Spaniard took a firm grip of the midfield alongside Michael Stewart to dominate the rest of the half, leaving Laszlo to lament the early lapse in concentration.

"How many times we give gifts to the opponents makes you go crazy," he said. "The next time we must not have Christmas, Easter, Mother's Day. The Rangers game was Mother's Day and we them gave a cake. On Saturday we gave a huge Easter egg but after we came back and we got our egg."

Laszlo did not offer an opinion on the first-half penalty claim when Stewart fell in a challenge with Glenn Loovens, feeling the incident was inconsequential.

He may also have been mindful of a lucky escape in the second half when Shunsuke Nakamura's free-kick struck Stewart's arm inside the Hearts penalty area. "Before we talk about the penalty we must talk about why we did not win the game with our own chances," he said.

Celtic's Gordon Strachan habitually analyses his side's matches as might a supporter, often referring to the spectacle on offer. In that respect he was impressed by the appetite and application from both sides.

"It was a good game, I enjoyed it," he said. "On chances and opportunities to score, we had the better ones. We just didn't have our shooting boots on.

"On determination and character, the two sides were equal. At free-kicks, Hearts are like the land of the giants and you have to plan accordingly. In the last half hour, we were terrific.

"We're going to have a say in the championship, we determine where we go, not Hearts. You can only ask the fellows to perform and it might be the biggest point of the season, you never know."

His assertion merely reaffirmed the value Celtic attached to this draw.

Taken from the Scotsman