No end to the Heartache - Two clinical strikes put Celts' SPL hopes on life support

By Stephen Mcgowan

No one was attacked and nobody died. With a little over a quarter of the season gone, however, Hearts took enormous pleasure here in placing Celtic’s SPL aspirations on the footballing equivalent of a life support machine.

At the end of a pulsating, hectic spectacle of a football match, the Tynecastle side were entitled to savour every precious second of this. Most of all the owner Vladimir Romanov, making one of his increasingly rare soirees to Scotland.

Pre-match, the Lithuanian-based businessman offered words of encouragement to the Hearts players. Much more of this and he’ll fancy himself as a manager.

MATCH FACTS

Hearts: MacDonald, Hamill, Webster, Zaliukas, Grainger, Templeton (Novikovas 84), Jonsson, Mrowiec, Black (Gordon Smith 88), Skacel (Obua 77), Stevenson.

Subs Not Used: Balogh, Elliott, McGowan, Robinson.

Booked: Skacel,Black.

Goals: Skacel 58,Stevenson 81.

Celtic: Forster, Matthews (Mark Wilson 73), Majstorovic, Mulgrew, El Kaddouri (McCourt 79),Forrest, Ki, Wanyama, Commons, Hooper,
Bangura (Stokes 59).

Subs Not Used: Zaluska, Samaras, Rogne, lane.

Sent Off: Commons (65).

Booked: Ki.

Att: 14,749

Ref: Craig Thomson (Scotland).

Once again on the ground of a major rival, Celtic’s second-half display here was dismal and highly damaging. Rudi Skacel’s scorching goal in the 57th minute rolled back the years before the visitors were reduced to 10 men for a third successive time at this old venue.

As on a tempestuous night in May, when the loathing between these clubs reached new levels, it was Kris Commons sent packing. When Craig Thomson referees these games — and he usually does — experience shows it’s wise to put the kettle on for a dismissal at some point.

If the sending-off of the Scotland international for celebrating a goal in May was a nonsense, however, there could be no conceivable complaint over a straight red here.

A wild, reckless, studs-up lunge on Adrian Mrowiec from Commons on the centre-line could bring only one result.

‘We lost our discipline,’ said Neil Lennon, ‘or one player lost his discipline. He came in and held his hands up, but it’s too late.’

For Commons, a pale shadow of his former self, a two-week fine now looks a certainty. His individual plight mirrors that of his team.

Reduced to 10 men and further decimated by another injury — for Adam Matthews this time — there was an inevitability about Celtic losing a second goal.

It duly came nine minutes from time, stranded and isolated defensive substitute Mark Wilson suffering a mugging from David Templeton at the byeline as the winger cutely back-heeled the ball into the path of the increasingly impressive Ryan Stevenson, his composure and driven finish, past a prostrate Fraser Forster, nothing short of exemplary.

The result of all this is a Celtic league campaign entering dangerous territory. Third in the SPL behind Motherwell and a mere three points clear of an improving Gorgie side, defeats to St Johnstone, Rangers and Hearts by the beginning of October mark a grim trend.

The fire alarm which forced the evacuation of Tynecastle five minutes after the final whistle interrupted the post-mortem in the visiting dressing room, but it’s safe to assume the bells were ringing.

Lennon’s cause is hardly assisted by injuries to skipper Scott Brown, Emilio Izaguirre, Joe Ledley, Kelvin Wilson and now Matthews, who limped off here after a clash with Templeton.

The Welshman reported no serious ankle damage afterwards, but accepts that one more defeat could prove fatal to Celtic’s league ambitions.

‘I think now we have to put a decent run together,’ he said. ‘If the gap gets any bigger, then it makes our challenge even harder.

‘Everyone at Celtic is under pressure. When you are at a massive club like this, you expect success.’
Even if the Scottish Cup holders win their game in hand, the gap remains seven points.

That Rangers have yet to travel to Parkhead or Tynecastle would make any predictions a rash business.

And yet, who can deny that an air of crisis now looms over Lennon’s side? Third behind Motherwell, Lennon’s team are now a distant 10 points adrift of a Rangers side widely written off before a ball was kicked.
Frustrated: Celtic manager Neil Lennon shows his dismay as his side lost to Hearts at Tynecastle

Frustrated: Celtic manager Neil Lennon shows his dismay as his side lost to Hearts at Tynecastle

The Ibrox side still have their troubles to negotiate, but this much is already clear. If Celtic keep losing games in the craven manner of this second-half capitulation, the gap will become wide enough for Rangers to enter administration, ship 10 points and still top the SPL.

Without Beram Kayal, who sustained a thigh injury against Udinese, and Ledley, Celtic were significantly weakened here. Barring two first-half saves from Jamie MacDonald in the Hearts goal, the league hopefuls failed to create much at all.

Hearts, in contrast, once again managed to put some humdrum form behind them for a major game. Afterwards, coach Gary Locke demanded the same level of application and commitment against lesser teams. Despite the League Cup wobble in Ayr, however, the Gorgie side have yet to lose a goal in four home league games. On such foundations are strong seasons built.

They might have lost one or two by half-time while scoring a couple themselves. In a harum-scarum first half, both Forster and MacDonald had two terrific saves apiece, the Celtic keeper from a Jamie Hamill free-kick and a Stevenson diving header, while Marius Zaliukas also struck the post with a bouncing shot from the edge of the box in the eighth minute.

Slowly, however, Celtic edged their way into the game and MacDonald — who, like Forster, hasn’t always convinced — brilliantly stopped a downward header from Mohamed Bangura after a piercing Forrest cross.

In that instant, the striker ought to have scored his first goal for the club and silenced the growing voices who say he’s not fit for purpose. As it was, the half ended goalless when MacDonald again spread himself low to stop Commons thumping a right-foot effort in at the near post.

For Celtic the second half begun in a similar vein. There was irony in the fact that the opening Hearts goal came when Lennon felt his side were finally in the ascendancy, then.

Close to the Celtic corner flag, Hamill — a constant pest for the home side — hooked a hopeful up-and-under into the penalty area. Lennon expressed annoyance that there was no defensive head on the end of it and Templeton had his first assist of the day when he shielded the ball for Skacel to smash a first-time shot low into the net.

Suddenly Celtic were in trouble. More so when Commons was rightly sent packing for his over-the-ball challenge on Mrowiec. Until then, the winger had been as influential as any Parkhead player. With his red card, the game was effectively gone.

By then Anthony Stokes had already replaced the ineffectual Bangura. As Matthews limped off following an innocuous Templeton challenge, however, it seemed Celtic’s problems might never end.
And so it proved when the home team scored a deserved second goal with nine minutes remaining.

On a leaden, grey afternoon in Edinburgh’s capital, this truly was a bleak day for Celtic.