26th January 2022 Hearts 1 Celtic 2

 

Big game tonight against Celtic. With Motherwell due at Tynecastle on Saturday Hearts issued a double issue programme. My copy arrived direct from Curtis Sports by post yesterday. For those buying at the ground eighty pages for £4 is excellent value. Lots of interesting reading.  Game is live on Sky but I left home at 18.50 to walk to Tynecastle. Arrived around 191.0 and had to queue to show my Covid pass before using my season ticket at the turnstiles. My ticket did not work in first gate but I moved to the next one to get in without a problem. When I gt to my seat I added my Futbology app. This will be my 1710  Hearts match while it is 115 times for Celtic. Hearts had cut the ticket allocation for Celtic, who previously got the whole of the Roseburn stand. Now they are only getting half the stand and there were predictable moans from their fans. I wonder how they would feel if they had to watch a game from the away fans seats at Parkhead. Stuck in a corner with a restricted view and abuse and objects being thrown from the Celtic fans is not a pleasant experience.

Hearts had won 5-0 at Auchinleck in the Scottish Cup on saturday. They made a couple of changes to the starting eleven with John Souttar returning in central defence after injury and Josh Ginnelly coming in up front. Andy Halliday and new signing, from Melbourne City, Nathaniel Atkinson both dropped to the bench. Also on the bench was loan signing from Everton Ellis Simms. Simms was signed to replace Armand Gnanduillet who has returned to French football at Le Mans despite English interest in signing him. Celtic manager Ange Postecoglou has made a number of new signings n this window. A former manager in the Japanese JLeague he has signed JLeague players Yosuke Ideguchi, Daizen Maeda and Red Hatate from that league. Matt O'Riley has also arrived from MK Dons in England. Maede will not feature tonight as he has been called up for the Japanese national squad.

Hearts had the first chance of the game. Liam Boyce ran towards the penalty area and as Teheran Celtic defence moved to close him down he back heeled the ball to Barrie McKay. The winger, who has still to score for Hearts, tried a shot from twenty yards but the ball flew over the cross-bar. After thirteen minutes a minutes applause was held for 13 year old Devin Gordon who died recently. The ball was out of play for a goal-kick at the time and both the Hearts and Celtic players joined in the applause while the ball was out of ball. Celtic however were coming more into the game and Jota forced two good saves from Craig Gordon beating Michael Smith to the ball on both occasions. Smith looked to be struggling and this was confirmed when he went down on the halfway line after twenty-one minutes. He was helped from the by the physio and replaced by Atkinson. Celtic went ahead after twenty-seven minutes when a pass by Atkinson was intercepted by O’Riley who played the ball forward to Hatate. The midfielder ran forward a few yards and shot past Gordon from well outside the penalty area. Gordon dived to his right but had no chance of saving the shot. Celtic scored again in thirty-five minutes when O’Riley sent a low ball in from the right. Georgios Giakoumakis got in front of Souttar, for a suspiciously offside position and flicked the ball past Gordon at the near post.

 

Robbie Neilson took off Ginnelly at halftime bringing on Simms. He made a good debut and impressed with his running and arial ability. Celtic however continued to press forward and gordon did well to turn a shot from Josip Juranovis. Neilson then made another couple of substitutions on the hour mark. Cammy Devlin, who had been booked earlier, was replaced by Beni Baningime while Alex Cochrane made way for Gary Mackay-Steven. Within two minutes Hearts pulled a goal bak when McKay fed the ball through to Boyce running in on the left hand side of the penalty box. The striker took a touch and shot low into the far corner past Joe Hart in the Celtic. I must admit that I looked across at the linesman when the ball hit the net but no offside flag was raised. The atmosphere at Tynecastle was now red hot as Hearts pressed forward with Baningime showing some excellent touches and passing ability in his midfield role. Simms headed over the bar from a Hearts corner before Hearts were awarded a penalty in seventy-two minutes. From a corner Boyce headed the ball back towards goal from left of the six yard box. O’Riley stuck out a hand to stop it and referee John Beaton awarded the penalty. Boyce stepped up to take the kick. His shot to the left sent Hart the wrong way. However the ball hit the inside of the post and ran back along the goal-line before going out of play. Hearts then lost Craig Halkett to a hamstring issue after eighty minutes with Andy Halliday coming on as his replacement. They continued to press forward and showed a much better standard of football than in the first half but despite six minutes of injury time were unable to force an equaliser. Celtic were rattled and trying to waste time with lengthy stoppages when O'Riley was treated for cramp before being substitued and also when Ismaila Soro replaced Jota three minutes into injury.

I walked home disappointed with the result but pleased with the performance. i just do not understand how when Hearts play Celtic, and indeed Rangers, the start poorly and only really come into the game after they have lost goals. It was also good to see that Souttar did not receive the volume of bus from Hearts fans, following his signing a pre-contract with Rangers, as he did in the previous home game against St Johnstone.

Teams

Hearts: Gordon, Smith, Kingsley, Halkett, Souttar, Cochrane, Haring, Devlin, McKay, Ginnelly , Boyce

Subs: Atkinson, Simms, Mackay-Steven, Baningime, Halliday

Celtic: Hart, Juranovic, Taylor, Starfelt, Cart-Vickers, Bitton, Forrest, O'Riley, Giakoumakis, Hatte, Jota.

Subs: Abada, McCarthy, Soro