Jambos left furious by officials

They t hen saw their opponents denied a penalty before scoring a magnificent third in stoppage time to seal a victory thoroughly deserved on the overall balance of play. Curiously, Celtic employees had precious little to say about officials afterwards.

There is no debating the home side commanded most of the match and thus fully merited the three points. Paddy McCourt's goal seconds from full-time was worth the admission money alone as he skinned two Hearts defenders before impishly clipping the ball over goalkeeper Marian Kello. What set the tone for Celtic's superiority, however, were James Forrest's opener and the second by Shaun Maloney, both in the first half.

Now, some match officials are incompetent, not only in Scotland but the world over. Others are simply buffoons, but it is a step too far to accuse them of blatant cheating. In February this year Celtic did exactly that with their complaint to the SFA. The Glasgow club have been made to look rather foolish on several occasions since when debatable decisions have gone their way in critical periods of games. Saturday was possibly the most glaring example you will see for some time.

On 28 minutes, seconds after Suso had struck woodwork for Hearts, Maloney slid a through ball to Daryl Murphy, who looked suspiciously offside. He motored forward to deliver a low cross across the face of Kello's goal. Darren Barr looked well positioned to clear as the ball arrived at the back post, but he succeeded only in diverting it onto Forrest's foot and into the net.

As the Hearts management protested about the lack of an offside flag and berated the standside assistant, Francis Andrews, manager Jim Jefferies was ordered to the stand by referee William Collum.

A minute from the interval, Maloney fastened on to Joe Ledley's through pass and, with no flag, proceeded to eyeball Kello and dribble round the Slovakian before converting into the net as Eggert Jonsson slid in.

Hearts' protests were again in vain, for the game was all but up.

At half-time Jefferies headed downstairs from the directors' box and bumped into Collum. "I said 'you're due me an apology for the first goal,' and I was spoken to like a two-y ear-old kid," he explained afterwards. "I got talked to like a wee schoolkid and I'll be complaining about that. He said to me, 'I'm not dealing with you or talking to you.'

"I didn't ask him to deal with me, I just asked for an apology. The monitor was there.

"I've reported it to the SPL delegate (John Connolly]. You go from a situation of being 1-0 down and you need somebody to do their job properly and they didn't.

"You can't blame Celtic, they can only use the advantage and they scored from it.

"I'd probably have been sent off in the second half as well when David Templeton was held back (by Emiliano Izaguirre in the box].

"The word we're getting is that the fourth official said the linesman thought it was a penalty. The fourth official said that to Billy Brown (Hearts asssitant manager]. At the start of the season, I was at a meeting with Hugh Dallas where he tells you the changes and it was said that if the fourth official sees something on the field then he's got the licence to tell the referee.

"We got in behind Celtic a couple of times but the big point was the Templeton incident. At 2-0, if we get the penalty then it's a totally different ball game.

"Celtic might then become nervy having been 2-0 up, I've seen it happen before."

Prior to the deadlock being broken, Hearts looked more than comfortable and actually seemed to be growing in confidence. Fraser Forster, the Celtic goalkeeper, required two attempts to hold Kevin Kyle's header from a corner and Suso struck the post after a fine flowing move involving Ryan Stevenson and Kyle.

"We could've been 1-0 in front because we'd settled and we were taking the game to them," said Jefferies.

"Kyle had a great chance at the back post and to lose a goal like we did was very frustrating.

"They were saying the same about the second.

"Every time you don't get the breaks it makes it easy for Celtic. Before they scored their second they could have had another two but that was down to us because we lost our shape and didn't close them down enough.

"Kello was superb, but the first goal has changed the course of the game. The way we lost it was annoying. We get a golden opportunity to get a goal back when Temps was held back and we didn't get it."

Neil Lennon, the Celtic manager, presided over a 12th consecutive league win and purred over certain aspects of his team's play. McCourt lit up the entire afternoon after evading two opponents and chipping Kello for the third, a goal worthy of his cult hero status at Parkhead.

"It's another clean sheet which is very pleasing," he said. "Some aspects I wasn't happy with.

It took us 20 minutes to get going but we seemed to cut them open on a number of occasions and going forward we looked good.

"Samaras could have had a hat-trick after coming on, Maloney was fantastic, Murhpy played well and Stokesy had a decent debut.

"I just wish we were a wee bit more clinical because we missed some decent chances. At 2-0 you don't relax till the third goes in.

"We were a bit scrappy to start off with and needed movement going forward. We brought Shaun in to play off Murphy and I think that was the turning point for us, bringing Shuan into the central position. Hearts are a good team who have started the season well but a few more goals wouldn't have flattered us."

Comments on the officials were kept to a minimum.

"I thought Murph was fine," he said in relation to the build-up to the first. "As for the second goal, I wasn't sure about that, but we cut them open at will at times."

Perhaps Lennon and Celtic would privately consider that refereeing decisions, good or bad, generally even themselves out in time.

Taken from the Scotsman