Hearts 0 Celtic 4

By Roddy Forsyth, Tynecastle

There will be renewed calls for goal line technology after this match but finishing-line ambition was all too clearly demonstrated by Celtic as they swept Hearts aside with goals from Scott Brown, Victor Wanyama, Joe Ledley and Gary Hooper to go four points clear of Rangers to take their undefeated run in domestic competitions to 20 games, including 16 consecutive wins.

Hearts had to absorb a cruel double blow in the opening exchanges. Clearly fired up to carry the game to the league leaders they forced a corner kick on their left within the first minute. Andrew Driver’s delivery was knocked on to Stephen Elliott who met the ball with a square header six yards out.

The ball struck Ledley, stationed below the crossbar, but it squirmed off his body and over the goal line but Fraser Forster dived to scoop the ball out of the goal and Willie Collum declined to allow the score despite the frantically aggrieved protests of the Hearts players. No sooner had the wound been opened than Celtic poured salt on to the raw flesh by bolting upfield to score a goal that had the crucial advantage of being unambiguous.

James Forrest, watched by the Team GB Olympic coach, Stuart Pearce, was the architect, with his delivery of an angled cross into the box where it struck Georgios Samaras and fell for Brown to strike a rising shot past Jamie MacDonald to give the Celtic captain his third goal in as many games. It would have required a heart of stone – or an allegiance to Celtic – to feel no sympathy for the home side in their distress.

A football game waits for no one, however, and Hearts were unable to stem the tide flowing so emphatically in Celtic’s favour.

In such circumstances the next goal was always likely to have a substantial bearing on the course of the contest and Hearts were complicit in their own troubles by allowing a Charlie Mulgrew corner kick to make it through to Forrest, who turned the ball back into the danger area where Wanyama who finished instinctively to double Celtic’s lead.

The priority now for Hearts was to reach the interval without sustaining further damage but they were denied that possibility by Brown, who robbed Marius Zaliukas and shuttled the ball to the left where Samaras gathered and bounded forward to loft a chip over MacDonald towards the back post where Ledley had been allowed to drift into unpoliced space for a simple nodded finish.

Instead of relief, half-time brought Hearts only the prospect of an unrelenting effort to prevent a crushing defeat, but Celtic were in irrepressible form and there was no surprise when they scored their fourth just before the hour-mark. Ledley very nearly got his second when he peeled free on the left of the box to beat MacDonald with an angled drive, but his effort came off the post and was turned behind for a corner kick.

Mulgrew spied Wanyama free at the back post and found the midfielder for a downward header which Hooper turned over the line at point blank range to permit his manager to exercise options by sending on Daniel Majstorovic, Anthony Stokes and debutant Pawel Brozek for Thomas Rogne, Hooper and Brown.

Match details

Hearts (4-4-2): McDonald; Hammill, Webster, Zaliukas, McGowan; Taouil, Robinson (Santana 70), Mrowiec, Grainger (Skacel 63); Elliott, Driver (Glen h-t). Subs: Ridgers (g), Barr, Obua, Holt. Booked: Driver, Webster, McGowan, Mrowiec.

Celtic (4-4-2): Forster; Matthews, Rogne (Majstorovic 63), Wilson, Mulgrew; Forrest, Brown (Brozek 73), Ledley, Wanyama; Samaras, Hooper (Stokes 65). Subs: Zaluska (g), Cha, Commons, Ki. Booked: Mulgrew, Brown.

Referee: W Collum.

Taken from telegraph.co.uk