22nd October 2023 Hearts 1 Celtic 4

 

First match at Tynecastle for a few weeks having missed the Edinburgh Derby through illness. With a 14.15 kickoff for Sky TV coverage it was a bit of a rush after a late lunch to leave home. I left at around 13.35 to walk to Tynecastle and arrived around 13.50. I scannned my season ticket for entry and headed for my seat in the Main Stand. Celtic were unhappy about the ticket allocation for their own fans as they had only 576 tickets available. Given the behaviour of Celtic fans at previous matches I still thought that was too many. When the teams came out they displayed Give Racism the Red Card. The stadium announcer said both clubs were against racism, sectarianism and homophobia. Obviously the Celtic fans were deaf as they were displaying Palestinian flags and signing their usual sectarian songs. I just don’t understand why police and stewards not take any action given the way Hearts fans get treated in Glasgow. 

Hearts made one change from the side that drew 2-2 against Hibs. Stephen Kingsley dropped out through injury and was replaced by Alex Cochrane returning from an injury absence. Hearts appeared to be lining up in a 4-2-3-1formation with Kenneth Vargasassole striker. With only Cammy Devlin and Calem Nieuwenhof in midfield against Celtic's McGregor, Hatate and o’Riley I would have brought Peter Haring into midfield to provide a bit more ‘dig’ with Forrest or Lowry dropping to the bench. As for Celtic they had a strong line-up however I was disappointed in their side. Celtic are round that their 1967 European. Up winning side were all born within thirty miles from their ground. Today only three of the sixteen players used were Scottish. Celtic have. A huge financial advantage over every other side in Scotland due to their European exploits and stadium capacity. I just wonder why they seem to ignore Scotland when signing new players. .

The first tackle of the game summed up what was going to happen in the ninety minutes when Lawrence Shankland broke down the left wing. Celtics Alastair Johnston slid in with a tackle on his ankle. At any other time in the game it would have been at least a yellow card if not a borderline red however referee Nick Walsh merely awarded a free kick without even talking to the Celtic player in the fourth minute Celtic went ahead when Luis Palma hit a pass over the top of the Hearts defence for Matt O'Riley to volley across the goal past Clark into the right hand corner. Hearts had a chance to equalise when Alex Lowry sent Cochrane free on the left hand side of the penalty area. Cochran swung a low cross across the goal but no Hearts payer was be to connect as the ball went out for  goal kick. Hearts then seemed to forget how to attack with passes across the field or backwards as Celtic pressed hard. Clark had attempted to find Cochrane on the left with a clearance and the ball ended up going out for a throw-in about five yards behind the intended incipient, being a prime example if the poor passingCeltic went two ahead after twenty-three minutes when Reo Hatate played a low ball across the Hearts goal for Daizen Meada to score at the fr post. There was a VAR check for offside but from where I was sitting it looked like a goal and VAR confirmed. 

Twenty seconds into the second half Celtic were awarded a penalty. Kyogo Furuhashi backed into Cochrane in the penalty box and fell to the ground. to me it was not a foul as the Celtic forward had merely fallen however the referee awarded a penalty and VAR agreed. Hatate took the kick but as Clark dived to his right Hatates shot hit the left hand post and bounced out of play. Furubashi however made it 3-0 after fifty minutes when the ball broke to h in the penalty ox and he fired it home. A number of Hearts fans left after that goal and I was tempted to join then. Hearts brought on Baningime, Oda and Boyce and their standard of play improved. Shankland chased a through ball and his shot was pushed away by Joe Hart in the Celtic goal. However in sixty-one minutes he pulled a goal back. The striker cut in from the left and his shot was blocked by the Celtic defence. Meada failed to clear it on the edge of the penalty area and Shankland fired the ball into the bottom right hand corner of the net of the far post. Hearts looked a better side and Forrest had a couple of good attempts but my feeling was that if Hearts scored again Celtic would move up field and score another. After eighty minutes Celtic scored a fourth. Clark stopped a shot from substitute Oh Hyeon-Kye with his legs but the ball broke to Tok Iawata. His first attempt was blocked but the ball bounced back to him and he shot into the top of the net. I gave it another five mites then joined the majority of Hearts fans in leaving early. Thankfully I did not miss any more goals.

 

As I walked home I reflected on the game. Steven Naismith has promised attacking football but to me it seemed that Hearts were scared of the Celtic side and ere reluctant to pass the ball forward as they could be caught on the break by the pacey Celtic forwards. I also could not understand Hearts substitutions as to me Alex Lowry was Hearts main attacking midfield threat but he was taken off. It may have been because he cannot play next Sunday and the following Sunday against Rangers being on loan from the Glasgow side but I would have kept him on. I got home round 16.30 and settled down after dinner to watch South Africa knock England out of the Rugby World Cup which at least cheered up my day.

Teams

Hearts: Clark, Kent, Nieuwenhof, Shankland, Devlin, Rowles, A. Forrest, Cochrane, Sibbick, Lowry, Vargas,

Subs: Baningime, Oda, Boyce, Grant

 

Celtic: Hart, Johnston, Taylor, Scales, Palma, Furuhashi, Carter-Vickers, O’Riley, Maeda, Hatate, McGregor. 

Subs: Iwata, Forrest, Oh, Yang, Bernardo,