Hearts 2-0 Celtic

By David McDaid

Hearts recorded only their second home league win this season, beating Celtic who had to play 35 minutes with 10 men.

The Edinburgh side had the better of the first half, hitting the bar before Ian Black's shot deflected in off Daniel Majstorovic on 29 minutes.

Celtic's Joe Ledley was sent off for a rash tackle on the Hearts scorer.

Soon after, David Templeton notched a fine second, finishing past Fraser Forster in Celtic's goal after a fantastic pass from Rudi Skacel.

The result caps an excellent four days for Jim Jefferies' team, coming off the back Sunday's derby win at the home of their city rivals Hibernian.

Neil Lennon's Celtic, meanwhile, looked a shadow of the team which scored nine without reply past Aberdeen in their last outing.

The frustration felt by Celtic fans leaving Tynecastle must have been compounded as news of league leaders Rangers' defeat at Ibrox filtered through.

Yet it was the visitors who looked brighter in the opening few minutes and Shaun Maloney had the first effort on goal after driving forward from midfield - although the shot trundled tamely into the arms of Marian Kello in the Hearts goal.

It was not long before Hearts began to assert themselves, however, with winger Templeton in particular causing problems down Celtic's left-hand side.

On 12 minutes the Celtic defence looked unsettled as Ismael Bouzid rose to meet a corner before the ball was scrambled away.

And moments later Hearts' Stephen Elliot headed off the bar with the goal gaping as he reacted instinctively to Templeton's cross-goal shot.

Shortly before the half-hour mark Hearts got the goal their play merited - albeit with the help of a heavy deflection off Celtic defender Majstorovic.

Skacel appeared to have passed up the chance to deliver a free-kick into the box, instead rolling short it to Black.

The midfielder took a few paces before unleashing a shot from 30 yards which flew over Forster after spinning off his Swedish teammate.

After posting a new record Scottish Premier League scoreline on Saturday, Celtic were finding Hearts' defences more difficult to breach, with the final ball letting them down.

When Gary Hooper did manage to get in behind the home side's back four he was booked for diving as he went to ground when Kello raced off his line.

Hooper then had a glorious chance to level the score minutes before the break.

But after good work from Anthony Stokes, the Englishman was unable to direct the ball past Kello, who saved well from just eight yards.

Instead, it was Hearts who nearly doubled their lead before the interval with Skacel stinging Forster's palms.

The second period started scrappily but exploded to life when Celtic midfielder Ledley was shown a straight red card for a two-footed lunge on Black.

While Celtic boss Neil Lennon decided how to reorganise his 10 men, Maloney lost the ball in midfield, Skacel collected it and raced down the left channel.

The Czech then slid an accurate pass across the box for Templeton who fired the ball under Forster from 10 yards.

Celtic had a good claim for a penalty turned down when Ryan Stevenson handled in the box, and Celtic boss Lennon was sent to the stand for his angry protestations over referee Craig Thomson's decision.

But Celtic were unable to pick themselves up off the canvas and Hearts eased to what turned out to be a comfortable victory.

Taken from the BBC