It’s been a week for unlikely news in our fair Capital. Forget the eye-brow raising reunion of the Bay City Rollers. It was the plundering of a point by 11 Edinburgh lads in the east end of Glasgow that was even more of a turn up for the books. Given Hearts’s fairly abysmal record against Celtic in recent years, you’d be forgiven for thinking the last time the Tynecastle team took anything from their rivals up the M8, the original Rollers were belting out ‘Bye Bye Baby’.
Sunday April 15 2012 seems a heck of a time ago. That 2-1 Scottish Cup success on that day was the last time Hearts beat Celtic. Since then, they had lost 10 on the trot going into yesterday’s tussle. The backs-to-the-wall point that was grabbed here must have felt like a win as Hearts produced the kind of rearguard action that would’ve had General Custer saying ‘sod this, we’ll just down tools’.
You needed a few fingers to count the chances the hosts created and spurned in a match that contained more meaty challenges than a dispute at the local butcher’s shop. Kevin Clancy, the referee, let the players sort it out themselves, however, and allowed the play to roar on although he did have to brandish a red card in stoppage time as Efe Ambrose hauled down Sam Nicholson as the Hearts man burst through for what could have been an unlikely winner. It was a case of taking one for the team as far as Ambrose was concerned.
“What he [Ambrose] did was very professional, it saved his team a point,” said the Hearts head coach, Robbie Neilson, after watching his side end a run of three successive league defeats. It would have been a spectacular case of daylight robbery, of course.
“Disappointed is the wrong word, I’m more irritated because our performance was good,” sighed the Celtic manager, Ronny Deila, after his side failed to take full advantage of Aberdeen’s loss at Inverness. “It’s about scoring goals and we didn’t do that. When you see those chances again, you can’t get any clearer. The team kept Hearts under pressure for 90 minutes though and in the end they just parked the bus.”
If Hearts were the parked bus, then Celtic were the thundering juggernaut as they ploughed forward in furious abandon. The hosts could have – indeed, should have – been at least three goals to the good within the first 30 minutes. The hattered Hearts defence was creaking like the outhouse door in a stiff breeze but somehow they held on grimly. Kris Commons scuffed one straight into the hands of Neil Alexander from close range on four minutes while Leigh Griffiths battered one in from range moments later which the Hearts keeper parried to safety. Forrest then shuddered the crossbar before Tom Rogic was sent clear only for the Australian to pull his angled shot wide of the mark. When Griffiths nodded a free header straight into the grateful clutches of Alexander from about six yards, the groans, girns and grumbles about another one that got away reached an ear-shattering crescendo. The visitors did have the odd foray forward – Juanma almost found the top corner with a curling effort – but the flow of traffic was one way. The Hearts defenders were being dragged here, there and everywhere and found themselves sticking out legs, swiping at loose balls and generally getting themselves in a quite desperate fankle.
Somehow, though, they managed to wheeze towards the tunnel on level terms.
It was more of the same after the break as Celtic made all the menacing advances and a valiant Hearts side dug themselves in against the bombardment.
It was a game where, perhaps, a burly, bustling target man like Carlton Cole – the former Chelsea and West Ham striker who Celtic are pursuing – could have made a difference.
“He is someone who has different skills than the players we have,” added Deila. “Carlton was very positive with everything about Celtic. He sees the possibility to score a lot of goals. We will keep on talking with him.”
When Celtic did finally bulge the Hearts net, through Griffiths in injury time, the offside flag was already up. “We rode our luck,” conceded Neilson. It was just one of those baffling footballing days.
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