11th March 2023 Hearts 0 Celtic 3

 

Well here we are for the Scottish Cup quarter final tie v Celtic. Hearts lost 3-1 in the SPL to  Celtic on Wednesday but today is a cup-tie and at Tynecastle. Due to the game being live on  iapay, the former Premier Sports the kick was moved to 12.15. This is a ridiculous time to start for those wanting to watch the game live but fits in perfectly for a lunchtime TV audience.  I had an early lunch at 11.00 before leaving for Tynecastle. I left home at 11.20 and walked down to the ground arriving around 11.40. As season tickets were not valid I showed my online ticket for entry before heading up to my season ticket seat.

Hearts made three changes to the starting line-up from the match at Parkhead. Stephen Kingsley, Barrie McKay and Michael Smith, replaced Alan Forrest, Cammy Devlin and Nathaniel Atkinson who all featured on the bench. In addition to long-term absentees Craig Gordon, Craig Halkett, Liam Boyce, Pete Haring and Gary Mackay-Steven Hearts were also missing Lawrence Shankland and Yutaro Oda. At least half of those missing would feature in manager Robbie Neilson’s strongest line-up. The Celtic line-up only featured two Scots in Callum McGregor and Greig Taylor. This was a far cry from their famous Lisbon Lions side who won the European Cup in 1967. That side were all born within thirty miles of Parkhead. Todays cosmopolitan side featured players from England, Canada, Sweden, Portugal, Japan, Israel, Denmark and South Korea. 

Celtic started the game well and Zander Clark was forced to push away a drive from Rep Hatate in the first minute. Celtic went ahead a minute later when Jota left Kingsley for dead on the right before cutting the ball back across goal from the bye~line. Aaron Mooy had an easy task to curl the ball into the net. Hearts tried to pullback the deficit and Halliday sent an excellent cross into the Celtic box after being set free from a pass by Kio. Unfortunately Hearts had no-one in the box to connect with the cross and the chance was lost. Just the twenty minute mark James Hill headed a corner down to Toby Sibbick. Sibbick’s shot was blocked by Joe Hart in the Celtic goal as was the follow-up when Hill slid in to try and score. Hart was unhappy about the challenge and needed treatment but Hill had made a fair challenge to get the ball. As the game reached the half-time whistle Celtic scored a second. Andrew Johnston broke down the right and sent a low cross into the Hearts penalty area. Kyogo Furuhashi flicked the ball past Clark before play restarted and ended with the half-time whistle. 

To be perfectly honest the second goal killed the game as a contest. Hearts did attempt to pull a goal back but with Josh Ginnelly  on his own up front meaning there was a lack fire power with top scorer Shankland missing. Barrie McKay and Jorge Grant were tasked with supporting Ginnelly but with constant pressing from a Celtic in midfield the duo were unable to break forward. Kingsley had a good early real run forward and was fouled by Cameron Carter-Vickers as he sent a cross into the Celtic penalty area. The referee elected to play advantage but no Hearts player was able to get to the ball. Kingsley required medical treatment before he could continue and Cameron-Vickers was rightly yellow carded. Kio followed Cameron-Vickers into the referees note back following a strong challenge from behind on Liel Abada as he broke down the right. It was a free-kick but at least Kio was showing he was willing to put in effort by chasing back to catch Abada. Celtic continued to dominate possession but Clark was.not seriously troubled in the Hearts goal. Ginnelly managed to break behind the Celtic defence and from where I was sitting appears to be pulled back. However referee Kevin Clancy waved play on without a VAR check. Hearts substitute Nate Atkinson was yellow-carded after eighty minutes after fouling  Cameron-Vickers just outside the penalty area.  Matt Riley floated the free-kick for Cameron-Vickers head home Celtic’s third from the centre of the area. There was a VAR check for offside but the goal stood. Alex Cochrane had a late chance for Hearts but headed wide from a McKay corner. The final whistle came as a relief after a poor performance from Hearts. 

I had thought about heading off to Riccarton to watch. HWU in the East of Scotland league but the Tynecastle match did not finish till around 14.05. I headed up to Slateford Road to catch a bus to Riccarton but just missed a 34. The next bus was not due for fifteen minutes so I decided to head home and drown my sorrows with a bottle of red wine. As I walked homeI reflected on a fine team performance by Celtic with the game only spoiled by the behaviour of their fans. Flares wee set off before the match kicked and there were several songs during the game reflecting support for the IRA. Despite tannoy warnings before the game both police and stewards ignored the crass behaviour of the visiting fans. It was surprising that Hearts had a bigger crowd against St Johnstone last week despite Celtic having the full Roseburn stand. I know a number of Hearts fans do not attend matches against Celtic due to the behaviour of their fans and I wish the SFA would take action against fans using flares and singing inappropriate songs.  

Hearts: Clark, Smith, Kingsley, Grant, Kio, Rowles, Halliday, McKay, Sibbick, Ginnelly, Hill 

Subs: Atkinson, Devlin, Forrest, Cochrane, Kuol. 

Celtic: Hart, Johnston, Carter-Vickers, Starfelt, Taylor, McGregor,  Hatate, Mooy, Jota, Haksabanovic, Kyogo

Subs: Kabayashi, Abada, Oh, iwata, O’Riley.