Celtic 4-1 Heart of Midlothian

From Hearts Media at Celtic Park.

Hearts' suffered a heavy defeat on their return to league action as they lost 4-1 to Celtic on Saturday afternoon.

Barely a minute was on the clock when Garry Hooper put the home side ahead, before Georgios Samaras made it two on eleven minutes.

Jason Holt pulled one back midway through the second half, but another goal from Hooper and an injury time Lassad strike put the game to bed.

New signing Danny Wilson made his debut alongside the fit again Andy Webster in central defence, with Captain Marius Zaliukas missing out through suspension.

Ryan Stevenson served the first of a two match ban, whilst Scott Robinson and Arvydas Novikovas made way for Jason Holt and Callum Paterson in a 4-3-3 system.

Celtic went on the attack from the word go and ensured Hearts suffered a nightmare start as they took the lead inside two minutes.

Adam Matthews got a lucky bounce off a Maroon jersey and was able to cut inside the box from the right before finding Hooper on five yards; the Englishman calmly rolled the ball into the empty net to put the hosts ahead.

The Champions continued to pour forward as Hearts struggled to keep the ball, let alone fend off the green and white onslaught. Whilst the initial pressure soon subdued, a counter down the right flank ended in a second goal on eleven minutes.

Kris Commons slipped past Kevin McHattie on the right and dispatched a teasing ball across goal which was pushed clear by Macdonald, only for Samaras to tap in the rebound from close range.

Lennon's men were dominant for the remainder of the half, with Hearts' inabilty to keep the ball preventing them from building up momentum.

Jamie Walker replaced Callum Paterson ahead of the second half and the youngster looked sharp as he cuts inside form the right before firing an angled shot into the arms of Lukasz Zaluska.

Hooper then looked to have put the home side three goals up shortly after with a close range shot, but the linesman's flag put a dampener on the celebrations.

A Joe Ledley volley on the hour mark then forced a spectacular save from Macdonald as the Celts continued to dominate proceedings.

Minutes later, however, Hearts found themselves back in the game as Jason Holt picked up the ball midway through the Celtic half. The midfielder surged through the middle before a hitting a shot from the edge of the box which, having taken a deflection, rolled into the bottom left corner.

Callum Tapping then made his senior debut with twenty minutes remaining, but any hopes of a Maroon comeback were dashed by Hooper on 85 minutes.

Scott Brown's mazy run down the right saw him cut inside Kevin McHattie before teeing up Hooper who fired a shot into the far corner from 12 yards out.

Substitute Lassad then added a fourth in the dying minutes as he met an Izaguirre cross on the back post before slamming it into the top corner.

Celtic: Zaluska, Matthews(Lassad 76), Lustig, Mulgrew, Izaguirre; Brown, Wanyama, Ledley (Kayal 66), Samaras; Commons (Rogne 82), Hooper. Subs not used: Thomson, Gershon, McGeouch, Stokes.

Hearts: Macdonald; Barr, Webster, Wilson, McHattie; Holt, McGowan (Tapping 71), Taouil (Carrick 86); Paterson (Walker 45), Sutton, Driver. Subs not used: Ridgers, Novikovas, Prychynenko, G.Smith.

Referee: Iain Brines

Top man: Darren Barr

Hearts World