Caldwell and Boruc able to kiss and make up as tempers flare

Published Date: 21 September 2009
By Stephen Halliday
TONY Mowbray last night praised Artur Boruc and Gary Caldwell for their angry confrontation during Celtic's 2-1 defeat of Hearts, insisting it proved his players do not lack passion.
Caldwell, who retained his place and was captain of the side despite airing his unhappiness over contract talks in midweek, squared up with Boruc towards after Hearts had come close to taking a 2-0 lead. The Scotland international, who had been jeered by some home fans before the match, was the last to leave the pitch afterwards and made a point of applauding the supporters.

Mowbray was a satisfied man, having seen his team bounce back from their Europa League disappointment in Israel on Thursday night to open a two-point lead at the top of the SPL "Certain fans didn't think there was enough passion from the players in Tel-Aviv," said Mowbray. "But I would suggest that to see two players arguing like that today shows passion. For me, it is positive that players care about the situation.

"Artur and Gary shook hands and patted each other on the back at half-time. They just want to win football matches. It was a little bit of deja vu for us today. It was like the game against Dundee United last week when we lost an early goal, had to go chasing the game and then had a controversial penalty decision which didn't go our way. Thankfully, we didn't need it to in the end today.

"I thought we played very well. Even in the first half, we moved the ball around well and got it into great areas. Our final ball let us down at times, but in the end we got what we deserved and won the game.

"I judge my team on performance levels, but I understand that at this club we have to win regardless of how we play. I hope the supporters have gone home happy with the win and I also hope they are taking about some of the good football we played. We have already seen in the short time of this season so far that teams are more than capable of taking points off the Old Firm. That will happen all season and it will come down to consistency and strength of squad. Ourselves and Rangers can drop points to any team in this division. Hearts will take points off a lot of clubs.

"They have a lot of strong, powerful footballers and I'm happy to get this game out of the way with a win."

Mowbray took a leaf out of Scotland manager George Burley's book yesterday, swearing during a post-match interview on Radio Scotland when he discussed Chris Killen's performance.

"I don't think it was excitement, but I'm sorry if a swear word slipped out," said Mowbray.

"I'm pleased for Chris Killen. For whatever reasons, he doesn't seem to be a fans' favourite but he put us level today with a great header."

Hearts head coach Csaba Laszlo cast doubt on referee Dougie McDonald's addition of four minutes stoppage time, Glenn Loovens scoring the winner in the third of them, but admitted his team were punished for the failure of Suso Santana and Lee Wallace to make simple clearances before both Celtic goals.

"We had the game in hand but made two bad decisions," said Laszlo. "Suso had the possibility to clear the ball before Celtic's first goal and thought he was fouled. Lee was 100 per cent sure it was not a corner before the second goal and he let the ball go out for a goal kick. They were two situations where we had the ball and had the possibility to make other decisions.

"This is a learning process for some players and they need to be more clever. I think the biggest question I have today is over the number of minutes added on. But I can't respond and give you an answer why the referee decided on four minutes. You must ask him why.

"Both sides tried to play football today and both goalkeepers made saves. But Celtic have a bigger squad with more experience. I have a young squad which is definitely on the way to getting better and better."

Taken from the Scotsman