Celtic 2 - 0 Hearts: Glenn Loovens and Marc-Antoine Fortune seal glory for Celtic

Published Date: 11 February 2010
By STEPHEN HALLIDAY
CELTIC finally enjoyed a momentum shift in their favour in the SPL title race as two goals inside the first five minutes of the second half broke the resistance of an obdurate but artless Hearts side and cut Rangers' lead at the top of the table to eight points.
The odds remain stacked against Tony Mowbray's revamped team in pursuit of their great rivals but this victory at least provided the manager with some breathing space.

With Robbie Keane drawing a blank on his home debut, Glenn Loovens and the impressive Marc-Antoine Fortune grabbed the goals that earned Celtic their first home league win of 2010.

It was a fourth successive defeat for Hearts, three of them under new manager Jim Jefferies, and sees them drop out of the top six. In the end, they were simply relieved not to leave Glasgow on the end of a heavier defeat.

Yet at a venue where they have been in the habit of securing notable results over the past few seasons, Hearts did not initially lack confidence despite their recent indifferent form.

While Jefferies adopted a strategy primarily designed with containment in mind, the visitors enjoyed a reasonable share of both possession and territory and looked fairly comfortable before Celtic's explosive start to the second half.

Ian Black was deployed as the holding midfielder in a 4-1-4-1 formation with teenager Paul Mulrooney handed his first starting appearance on the right flank.

With the central midfield pairing of Michael Stewart and Ryan Stevenson matching up combatively to Celtic duo Scott Brown and Landry Nguemo, the home side did not find it easy to find openings in and around the Hearts penalty area.

The air of expectancy surrounding Keane's home debut was not enough to completely fill in the gaps which have appeared around Celtic Park in recent months, but there was a significantly bigger attendance for a match when the Irish luminary was expected to start earning his considerable corn.

He was presented with an early opportunity to break the deadlock when he latched onto a long ball from Josh Thompson which had the Hearts defenders appealing in vain for an offside decision. Keane raced clear with only Marian Kello to beat but drove his shot into the side netting. The Hearts goalkeeper may not have been tested on that occasion, but he soon emerged as a key figure in his team's efforts to subdue Celtic.

Although Hearts manufactured some openings of their own, such as a fierce Stevenson volley which appeared bound for the net before it struck Thompson, it was Mowbray's men who were generally the more threatening.

Incisive attacking moves were not produced as often as the home fans would have liked, but when they came they caved out clear-cut chances.

In the 26th minute, Kello made a tremendous double save when he blocked a close range shot from Brown and then diverted Marc-Antoine Fortune's follow-up effort over the crossbar.

It was fine work from the Slovakian but both Brown and Fortune should really have taken their chances.

Keane was similarly guilty just three minutes later when a threaded through ball from Aiden McGeady left him one-on-one with Kello, only for his shot to be parried by the goalkeeper before Marius Zaliukas cleared up.

Hearts might even have snatched the lead before half-time when Mulrooney stuck out a boot at a miscued Stewart shot and diverted the ball just wide of Artur Boruc's right hand post.

Celtic's frustration boiled over as the teams left the field for the interval, McGeady earning a caution for dissent. Mark Venus, the Celtic assistant manager, stepped in to usher away a group of angry home players who had surrounded referee Brian Winter in protest.

Celtic's failure to make the breakthrough had even subdued the reaction of their supporters when news of Rangers going behind at Motherwell had filtered through, but the mood changed dramatically with those two goals in as many minutes in the early exchanges of the second half.

The 49th minute opener from Loovens would have been the source of considerable anguish for Jefferies as his team failed to observe the defensive basics at a corner swung in from the right by Diomansy Kamara.

The ball fell neatly to Loovens who was allowed as much time as he liked to swivel away from the ponderous Zaliukas and guide a left foot shot beyond Kello from close range, with Mulrooney unable to block the ball on the line.

Before Hearts had time to put a Plan B into action, they found themselves 2-0 behind as they lost possession from the restart. McGeady surged through the middle and picked out Fortune's run into the penalty area. The big striker shrugged off a challenge from Zaliukas and stabbed a neat low finish beyond Kello's left hand from around 12 yards.

The Celtic fans suddenly sensed the kind of convincing home victory which has become a rarity this season but Kello retained his sense of defiance, making another close range block to deny Keane who had been played in by Kamara.

The on-loan Tottenham man was being willed to score from around the stands, but remained out of touch as he curled another glorious chance off target after a magnificent through ball from substitute Ki Sung Yueng.

Celtic: Boruc, Caddis, Thompson, Loovens (Rogne 63), Braafheid (Ki 77); McGeady, Brown, Nguemo, Kamara; Fortune (Samaras 81), Keane. Subs not used: Zaluska, Rasmussen, Crosas, McGinn. Booked: McGeady.

Hearts: Kello, Jonsson, Kucharski, Zaliukas, L.Wallace, Black; Mulrooney (Santana 74), Stewart, Stevenson, Obua; Nade (Glen 74). Subs not used: Balogh, Wittenveen, R.Wallace, Balatoni, Smith. Booked: Mulrooney, Zaliukas, Jonsson, Black.

Taken from the Scotsman