6th May 2018 Hearts v Celtic 1-3

A beautiful sunny day and despite the game being live on BT Sport I walked down to Tynecastle and took my seat in the main stand around twenty minutes before kickoff. On the way to Tynecastle I met another ex-work colleague Martin who was going to the game in his capacity as refereeing supervisor. Celtic had been crowned champions last week after their win against Rangers but would be looking for revenge after their 4-0 defeat in the last game at Tynecastle which ended their sixty-nine game undefeated run against Scottish opposition. Hearts had a boost with the return of injured loanee Demitri Mitchell from Manchester United and he came straight back into the side. Ross Callachan and Jaoquim Adao also returned.

Hearts started the game well and had the ball in the net from their first corner. Don Cowie floating the ball into the penalty box and John Souttar scrambled it over the line from close range. The referee however ruled the goal off for a foul on the keeper which I am not convinced was the correct decision. However Hearts went ahead seconds later when Steven Naismith fed Lewis Moore on the left. Moore flicked the ball on to Kyle Lafferty who was coming in on the right hand side of the box. Lafferty took a touch and then fired the ball past Scott Bain in the Celtic goal from a tight angle. Hearts had to hold the lead for a period to allow them to win the match but Celtic equalised within five minutes. Callum McGregor floated a freekick into the box and Derrick Boyata headed in from beyond the far post. Some said Boyata was in an offside position but I felt Jon McLaughlin in the Hearts goal could have made a move to catch the cross before it reached Boyata. Both sides continued to press for the lead with Celtic coming closest when a slip by Souttar let Mouusa Dembele through on goal. His attempted chip hit the bar as it flew over the goals.

The second half started badly for Hearts. Moore lost possession to Michael Lustig on the right hand touchline. Lustig touched the ball on to Tom Rogic who floated it over the Hearts defence into the Hearts penalty box. Dembele ran onto the pass to shoot past McLaughlin. Celtic then had a few chances to finish of the game but Hearts came back into the match in the final twenty minutes. Lafferty was forced of the field due to injury and Hearts skipper Christophe Berra moved upfront as a target man. This move however weakened the Hearts defence and in the fourth minute of injury time Celtic substitute Patrick Roberts beat two defenders on the byeline and cut the ball back to fellow substitute Stuart Armstrong. Armstrong knocked the ball across the Hearts six yard box where Celtics third substitute Scott Sinclair knocked the ball into an empty net.

Walked home disappointed with the result but pleased with the Hearts performance particularly in the first half. When I got home Celtic fans were moaning on social media that Naismith should have been sent off for a challenge on Scott Brown. Have watched the incident on TV my view is that Naismith won the ball and it was his momentum that carried him into Brown. Given Brown's own conduct on the field is it not a case of the biter being bitten? It would not however surprise me if the SFA compliance officer becomes involved here given their past record with Hearts.

Teams

Hearts; McLaughlin, M Smith, Souttar, Berra, Mitchell, Cowie, Adao, Callachan, Moore, Naismith, Lafferty.

Subs: Amankwaa, Cochrane, Henderson

Celtic: Bain, Lustig, Boyata, Ajer, McGregor, Brown, Ntcham, Forrest, Rogic, Edouard, Dembele

Subs: Sinclair, Armstrong, Roberts