Hearts 1 Celtic 0. HEARTS captain Colin Cameron was so late out of the Tynecastle dressing room on Saturday you could have given him the keys to lock up the stadium and asked him to put out the lights.

Among the other stragglers making their way to the car park at the same time were an eclectic bunch including Cameron, Scottish actor and writer Moray Hunter, former Celtic coach Dr Jo Venglos, and Slovakian

manager Josef Adamec.

Certainly, if Hunter had decided to put together a script based on the 90 minutes which had unfolded in front of him he would have written it round the differing

fortunes of the two No.10s, Colin Cameron of Hearts, and Eyal Berkovic of Celtic.

Cameron has certainly had an interesting time playing against Celtic this season, the fixture bringing out the best and the worst in him.

Back in August he was overshadowed by Berkovic as Celtic won 4-0 then, three months later, he put Hearts ahead at Tynecastle only to be sent-off after elbowing Johan Mjallby with Celtic winning the game with a late goal from Lubo Moravcik.

In February at Parkhead, Celtic went 2-0 up before a goal from Gary Naysmith and two from Cameron gave Hearts victory, a result which started the grumblings at Parkhead over John Barnes and precipitated his removal as manager.

On Saturday it was the positive side of Cameron's play which was on display as he put in one of the best performances of his career, taking the game to Celtic at every turn. He certainly had every right to be last out the dressing room and the stadium, such was the shift he had put in on the park.

An unassuming man away from football, the midfielder from Kirkcaldy had been in Craig Brown's Scotland starting line-up against France and, on this form, will be included in his squad for the forthcoming friendly against Holland.

Compare Cameron's career, which started at Raith Rovers, to the high-profile Berkovic, who had courted controversy at some of his previous clubs and who many Celtic supporters believe is showing his true form far too late into his first season at Parkhead.

However, such is the fickle nature of football the Israeli has gone from public enemy No.1 in some quarters following his unusual goal celebration against Kilmarnock last Sunday, to media darling following a magnificent performance against Motherwell in midweek.

However, on Saturday he came back down to earth with a bump and played second fiddle to Cameron, who showed that Scotland can produce their own playmakers who get on with the game with the minimum of fuss.

Following the sending-off of Celtic captain Paul Lambert for two bookable offences in 36

minutes, Kenny Dalglish had no alternative but to sacrifice Berkovic at half-time, although up until then Slovakian Robert Tomaschek, who was being watched by his national manager, had put a curb on his creative powers anyway and there was no indication he was inclined to free him from his shackles.

The Israeli watched the second-half from the dug-out, signing autographs for supporters and probably, from a professional point of view, marvelling at the shift put in by Cameron for Hearts, as well as becoming increasingly frustrated at the way his own side were struggling to create chances.

After the game, Dalglish described their visit to Tynecastle as ''one game too far'' for Celtic, citing three games in seven days as an arduous schedule for any club.

Many will think Dalglish was merely clutching at straws to explain away yet anther disappointing defeat, but he found an ally in Cameron, who felt Celtic's interim coach had a point.

''I think he's right to say having that many games does make a difference at this level,'' said Cameron. ''The game against Celtic was the first I have had for over a month where I haven't had to play in midweek beforehand and I certainly felt the fresher for it.

''I feel I showed that freshness particularly in the first half and I would tend to agree with him that having to play three games in a week can lead to players being jaded.''

Whether the Celtic players felt jaded remains to be seen, but one thing for sure was that they were out-fought by Hearts who seemed to have more appetite for the game.

Such was the commitment from Jim Jefferies' team from the first whistle you would have expected them to run out of steam near the end, but having the cushion of the extra man clearly helped as the game progressed.

The Tynecastle club now look a good bet to keep up their good run of form and clinch third place in the league and the UEFA Cup place that brings as they now have a five-point cushion over fourth-placed Motherwell.

However, one point of concern for Jefferies is the low percentage of chances his side are taking. They had come off two disappointing no-score draws against Motherwell and Dundee and, although Gary McSwegan took his goal in 35 minutes well, he also missed two easy chances.

Although Hearts deserved to win the game, Celtic did have opportunities of their own and Antti Niemi pulled off two great saves from substitute Mark Burchill.

Although eight players were booked, and Lambert sent off three minutes before Hearts scored, it was not a dirty game and Hugh Dallas handled the game well.

In fact, it could be argued he was too lenient by allowing Tommy Johnson to stay on the park after he kicked out wildly at Steven Pressley.

The same could be said about Naysmith, who put in a dreadful tackle on Stilian Petrov in the first minute.

The other flashpoint was the sending-off of Lambert and, despite his protests, he was

clearly guilty of two bookable offences after two separate fouls on Darren Jackson and had to go.

The Celtic captain must be furious with himself as a man with such a footballing brain doesn't usually make two such badly mistimed tackles in the same game. His dismissal ended any hopes Celtic had of salvaging something from the match.

The melee which followed his sending-off was unnecessary, although any suggestions of a simmering feud between

Lambert and Jackson, was quickly forgotten after the game when both players met on the way out of the stadium.

No doubt the debate over the demise of Celtic this season and who will be their new manager will continue, but what was heartening to see on Saturday was the level of intensity both sets of players brought to

proceedings. There are sure to be meaningless games in the coming weeks with players just going through the motions, but Saturday's encounter certainly wasn't one of them.

Next league matches: Hearts v Rangers (h, Wed); Celtic v Dundee (h).