Hearts 2 (Skacel 58, Stevenson 81) Celtic 0

Ewan Murray at Tynecastle

It was a blessed relief to everyone that Neil Lennon's return to Tynecastle was not notable for any security incidents. Yet the Celtic manager suffered a seriously wounding afternoon in Edinburgh.

In May, Celtic's 3-0 win at this venue was comprehensively overshadowed by a touchline attack on Lennon. This time, thankfully in a more low-key atmosphere, Hearts brushed aside their 10-man visitors to leave Lennon admitting for the first time that he is feeling the heat. Celtic hold a game in hand over Rangers but are 10 points adrift of their oldest rivals.

"I'm always going to be under pressure," said Lennon of his position. "I'm not going to pull the wool over anybody's eyes. We've lost three games already this season, we lost four all last season. It's a difficult position that I'm in. But I understand the position as well. They [the players] are going to have to turn this around and I'm going to have to, as well, but there's a lot of football to be played, six or seven months of the season left. We have to start winning games consistently. We need to get that consistency very quickly."

Lennon's view is simple: that his players all too often lack mental toughness in key matches. Damningly, 10 of the starting XI at Tynecastle were Lennon signings. Given that the manager could never be reasonably accused of lacking bottle when himself a Celtic player, the soft mindset of the current squad is a particularly tough issue for Lennon to grasp.

"I'm worried that there is not a lack of desire or anything like that, but a lack of belief, among a few of them, that they can't sort of pull it round at the minute. A few players have to look at themselves and ask if they're doing enough at the minute. For me, they're not."

Celtic's cause was hampered here by a sending-off for Kris Commons with 25 minutes to play. Lennon confirmed afterwards that the midfielder – who lunged into Adrian Mrowiec – will be fined. "He has let himself down and he's let us down, so he will be dealt with accordingly in house," said Lennon of Commons. "One player lost his discipline and let us down badly. He has come in and held his hand up but it's too late."

The atmosphere in these encounters is never friendly, with the sight of one supporter being bundled out of the main stand by police before kick-off threatening to act as a precursor. Thereafter, a section of the home support chanted in support of the man who accosted Lennon five months earlier with the visiting contingent reverting to depressing type in recounting verse about the IRA. By full-time, it was the Celtic contingent who were silent.

On the field, the first half was tame. Hearts came close to opening the scoring through Ryan Stevenson and David Templeton, while Mohamed Bangura passed up Celtic's best opportunity with a poor header from close range.

Celtic had started the second half in the ascendancy. Nonetheless, the generosity of their defence makes them constantly vulnerable when not endorsing superiority with goals.

And so it transpired. Daniel Majstorovic failed to clear a routine lobbed ball towards the Celtic penalty area from Jamie Hamill, enabling Hearts' David Templeton to lay off for Rudi Skacel, who, in a throwback to his form for Hearts during a first spell in maroon, lashed a left-footed effort past Fraser Forster.

The Commons aberration followed, increasing the magnitude of Celtic's task. Ryan Stevenson's goal left Lennon cutting a disconsolate figure, the midfielder scoring from close range after David Templeton laid the ball into his path.

As Lennon plots a recovery, Hearts can celebrate impressive home form. Despite being dismal on their travels, Hearts have conceded just a single single SPL goal on their own turf all season.

Taken from the Guardian/Observer