BRENDAN Rodgers may, according to the banners which were unfurled by the Green Brigade before kick-off at Tynecastle last night at least, have traded immortality for mediocrity by suddenly moving to Leicester City before the season is out.
But Neil Lennon, who has taken over from his fellow Northern Irishman as Celtic manager until the end of the season, has swapped a nice quiet life spending time with his family and playing golf for what looks like being a fraught and nerve-shredding title run-in.
His first match back in charge of the Parkhead club saw his team leave it until injury-time to snatch a dramatic late winner. Their lead over Rangers at the top of the Ladbrokes Premiership was in serious danger of being cut as proceedings drew to a close. It looked distinctly like being a disappointing return to the fray for Lennon as the game wore on.
Yet, Odsonne Edouard, who had come on for Ewan Henderson soon after Hearts had equalised in the second-half, got on the end of a Scott Brown delivery into the opposition box and volleyed beyond Zdenek Zlamal to give his new manager the victory he craved. The final 11 league games of the 2018/19 look like being eventful.
Aspects of the display will be alarming for Lennon. Craig Levein’s men had Jamie Brandon sent off a minute before half-time when they were trailing 1-0. But they still came back and levelled with a penalty. Still, the three points were duly banked and his charges' advantage in the top flight table maintained.
Lennon’s last visit to Gorgie back in October, when he was still Hibernian manager, had ended in him being struck in the face by a coin thrown by a Hearts supporter in injury-time. His return to the ground was, in the end, far more enjoyable.
Tynecastle had not been the happiest hunting ground for Rodgers during his time in this country. It was the scene of his first domestic defeat back in the December of 2017. A thumping 4-0 reverse brought an end to a record-breaking 69 game un-beaten run on that occasion. On the opening day of this league campaign in August last year the reigning champions were on the receiving end of a 1-0 loss.
Hearts certainly enjoyed by far the better of the opening half an hour and should really have capitalised on their superiority by taking the lead. They harried their opponents relentlessly and created several decent opportunities in the final third as a result.
READ MORE: Celtic captain Scott Brown bears no ill will towards former manager Brendan Rodgers
Scott Bain showed sharp reflexes to tip a Sean Clare attempt past his post at an Olly Lee corner and then Uche Ikpeazu fired over the crossbar. Steven Naismith should have done far better after pinching the ball of Dedryck Boyata. All the early signs pointed to an upset. But they conceded a breakaway goal against the run of play.
Henderson, the teenage midfielder who impressed on his first start for Celtic on Sunday, retained his place in the side. He moved forward, though, and took over from Ryan Christie in the No.10 role. Pitching such a young and inexperienced player into such an intimidating environment was asking a lot. But he coped admirably.
Indeed, his quick thinking, vision and precise pass led to the first goal in the 34th minute. He unleashed Scott Sinclair down the left flank and the winger fed the ball to Oliver Burke inside him. His team mate squared it to James Forrest who had the simplest of tasks to net what was his 19th goal of the season for club and country.
It was a sore one to take for Hearts. Other than a long-range attempt from Brown, which Zlamal did well to gather, Celtic had hardly threatened. However, taking the lead gave the away team a noticeable lift. Burke tested Zlamal twice before the half-time whistle blew.
READ MORE: Five things we learned from Celtic's late win over Hearts
By that time, their rivals had been reduced to 10 men. Brandon could have no complaints about his fate. He smashed his left arm into the face of Jeremy Toljan as they both tried to win a ball in the air. It was at best reckless, at worst nasty. Either way, he deserved to be ordered off by referee Steven McLean just a minute before half-time.
The capital club could count themselves fortunate not to finish the opening 45 minutes with just nine players on the park. Peter Haring had been yellow carded early on for tripping Kristoffer Ajer as the centre half made a mazy run upfield. He then barged Bain as he plucked a cross out of the air. The goalkeeper took some time to recover. But his assailant played on.
Hearts levelled 11 minutes into the second-half despite being a player down. Ajer failed to control a pass from Bain and Djoum took the ball off him. The defender kicked out instinctively and McLean had no hesitation pointing to the spot. Ollie Bozanic, who had come on for Naismith, stepped forward and coolly sent the keeper the wrong way.
Lennon immediately went on the offensive. He replaced Henderson with Odsonne Edouard and Sinclair with Timothy Weah. His side pushed hard for a goal as their hosts, understandably given their numerical disadvantage, sat back. Kieran Tierney, Edouard and Toljan all went close.
Nobody could begrudge Celtic the victory when Edouard pounced at the very death. But it had been closer than Lennon would have liked.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel