Heart of Midlothian 0-7 Celtic

(Commons 3' & 20' & 57', Brown 33' & 74', Ledley 41, Lustig 42', )
From Hearts Media at Tynecastle.

Hearts were soundly beaten 7-0 at home by Celtic in the William Hill Scottish Cup on Sunday.

It was an afternoon to forget for the Jam Tarts as a clinical Celtic side showed no mercy at Tynecastle, with Commons, Brown, Ledley and Lustig all getting on the scoresheet.

The manager made only one change from the team that drew with Ross County a week previous, David Smith replaced Callum Tapping as the Jambos went 4-4-1-1.

It took the visitors only three minutes to get their noses in front. Joe Ledley and Anthony Stokes combined to release Kris Commons inside the box, and his low angled shot across the face of goal nestled beyond Jamie MacDonald into the bottom corner.

Despite going a goal down, Hearts' heads didn't. David Smith did well to cut inside away from Izaguirre on 18 minutes before feeding Jamie Hamill, but he couldn't direct his shot on target from 25 yards and Fraser Forster remained unchallenged.

However, the Jambos proved masters of their own downfall and conceded a soft goal two minutes later. Celtic took a quick free kick on the right after Kevin McHattie had fouled Scott Brown, and Commons strode into the box unmarked to slam the ball high past MacDonald.

Commons almost grabbed his hat-trick on 26 minutes, but his sublime 25 yard chip was marvellously palmed over the bar by the backtracking MacDonald.

The third goal did come after 33 minutes, though through somewhat fortuitous circumstances. Stokes laid off Ledley at the edge of the box and his shot was blocked onto the post by a maroon shirt, the ball then fell into the path of Brown for a simple tap in from five yards.

Hearts' afternoon didn't get any better as the visitors made it four before half time. A low cross from the right made its way through a clutch of bodies in the home box for Ledley to tap in. Celtic then went 5-0 up two minutes later when Mikael Lustig hit an unstoppable shot from 30 yards that clipped the underside of the crossbar on its way in.

In a carbon copy of the penalty incident in the last meeting between the two sides, referee Willie Collum again awarded Celtic a penalty. The ball hit the arm of Danny Wilson in the box, but despite it being by his side and in a 'natural' position, the referee decided it was an incident worthy of a penalty award. Commons duly stepped up and slotted home from the spot, as Celtic hit six with less than an hour played.

Jamie Hamill produced Hearts' only real moment of quality a few minutes later when he carried the ball into the Celtic half and let fly at goal from 50 yards, but his effort just skimmed the top of the crossbar on its way over.

An afternoon of misery was compounded when Brown's half volley from the edge of the box swerved its way into the back of the net on 74 minutes.

Hearts: MacDonald; McGhee, McGowan, Wilson, McHattie; Smith (McKay, 46'), Hamill (A. King, 78'), Robinson, Walker; Stevenson (Carrick, 67'), Paterson. Subs not used: Hamilton, Tapping, B. King, Oliver.

Celtic: Forster, Izaguirre, Ambrose, Van Dijk, Biton, Brown, Stokes, Commons (Boerrigter, 77'), Mulgrew (Pukki, 58'), Lustig, Ledley. Subs not used: Zaluska, Samaras, Balde, Rogic, Fisher.

Referee: Willie Collum

Top man: Jamie Walker

Hearts World