Celtic ease to victory over Hearts
From Hearts News at Celtic Park

Celtic eased past Hearts comfortably to win 3-0 here in Glasgow this afternoon.

Two goals came in the first half (both perhaps offside) and the third right on full-time. Though Hearts had a couple of chances they never looked to threaten the Glasgow side and if it wasn't for Marion Kello the score-line could have been higher.

Jim Jefferies made one change from the team which drew with Dundee Utd - Craig Thomson dropped to the bench to be replaced by Ruben Palazuelos who slotted in at left back to cover for the injured Lee Wallace.

Both teams started the match well, Celtic were creating more chances going forward and the first real one fell to ex-Hibs player Anthony Stokes, who was making his debut. The striker shot from 25 yards out, but his effort went just wide of Kello's goal.

The home side were attacking the makeshift Hearts defence and Anthony Stokes was keen to show the Celtic fans he has what it takes as he was causing a few problems in defence. Hearts weren't sitting back though, and David Templeton was creating chances down the right, but the team were struggling to really produce any real chances.

However that changed in the 17th minute when David Templeton swung in a corner. It found the head of Kevin Kyle who almost snuck it past Fraser Forster. The keeper spilled the ball, before safely holding it on his second attempt. This obviously gave Hearts some confidence as a minute later Ryan Stevenson tried a cheeky chip - unfortunately for the Jambos it landed on the top netting.

In the 26th minute Hearts had the best chance of the game so far, Ryan Stevenson created space down the left before finding Suso Santana in the box, but the Spaniard's shot came straight back off the post.

Celtic were on the break immediately and Daryl Murphy found himself in space to run at the Hearts defence before putting the ball into the back post, Jonsson failed to clear and James Forrest tapped it into the net to open the scoring. To make matters worse for the visitors Jim Jefferies was then sent to the stand for protesting strongly to the linesman as he'd thought Murphy was offside when he collected the ball.

The home side continued to push forward and were clearly keen to double their lead. Anthony Stokes continued to find the ball down the right but got caught in the offside trap. It looked like Celtic would get that elusive second goal in the 41st minute when Forrest found himself in space down the right - he crossed into Murphy in the box who couldn't quite reach the ball and it ended up safely in the hands of Kello.

Celtic did double their lead a couple minutes later. Maloney broke with the ball through the middle of the Hearts defence - it looked as if he may have been offside but the linesman kept his flag down. The winger only had Kello to beat and when Kello went down Maloney took the ball round him and slotted it into the net to make it 2-0.

Neil Lennon's side almost had a third a minute later when Maloney again was given space in the middle of the park. He then played it out to Stokes on the left but his shot went straight at Kello.

Shortly after half-time Celtic had another clear cut chance to increase their lead. Again the ball broke through the middle this time to Daryl Murphy - he only had Kello to beat, but he was alert to the threat and smuggled the ball from the striker's feet.

Again in the 57th minute Celtic fans were left wondering how they weren't 3-0 up, Sean Maloney only had to hit the ball into the net but took too many touches and following a stramash in the penalty box, Kello managed to hold onto the ball.

The Jambos weren't sitting back and a minute later were shouting for a penalty after David Templeton went down in the box, but the referee waved play on. The ball subsequently came out to Suso who unleashed a powerful shot which Forster parried away.

Celtic continued to look for a third and Samaras was brought on to replace Daryl Murphy. The home fans thought the Greek strike had scored in the 72 minute when he broke through the middle and put the ball in the back of the net but the linesman had has flag up early for offside.

It was Samaras again who had a brilliant chance in the 80th minute but his shot from inside the box was superbly saved by Kello. However Celtic did get a third goal right on the 90th minute.

The ball was played into the box and Paddy McCourt was on the end of it to chip it over Kello and into the net.

Celtic: Forster; Du-Ri, Loovens, Majstorovic, Izaguirre; Forrest, Ledley, Brown (Kayal, 65), Maloney; Stokes (McCourt, 80), Murphy (Samaras, 70). Subs not used: Zaluska, Misun, Yeung, Hooper.

Hearts: Kello; Barr, Bouzid, Jonsson, Palazuelos; Templeton, Black (Elliott, 72), Mrowiec, Stevenson (McGowan 82); Suso, Kyle (Obua, 60). Subs not used: Balogh, Novikovas, C Thomson, J Thomson.

Referee: Willie Collum

Top man: Marian Kello

Hearts World