Celtic go four points clear with comprehensive victory over Hearts

Published on Thursday 9 February 2012 00:00

CELTIC manager Neil Lennon last night conceded that his side had “copped a break” prior to scoring four unanswered goals against Hearts at Tynecastle Park last night.

Celtic survived a scare in the opening two minutes of the match after Stephen Elliot’s header, which hit off Joe Ledley and then was pushed out by goalkeeper Fraser Forster, was adjudged to have not crossed the line. Television pictures later suggested that the whole ball had indeed crept over the line before Forster’s desperate attempt to clear.

Celtic made the most of what Lennon considered had been a let-off and scored four times without reply to go four points clear of Rangers at the top of the Scottish Premier League. Their first goal, claimed by skipper Scott Brown, was scored from the same passage of play after Elliott’s header.

Hearts manager Paulo Sergio was quick to hand Celtic credit for the way they made Hearts pay for their loss of focus following the controversial second-minute incident. However, he was frustrated at what he considers is just the latest refereeing decision to go against his side.

“What do you want me to say?” he asked. “We have been very unlucky with some of these decisions in the last three games. The referee has not seen another one – we are very unlucky.”

Sergio felt that referee Willie Collum should at the very least have given Hearts a penalty after the incident, for what he considered was handball against Ledley as the Celtic player sought to clear the ball. He also reasoned that this would have meant Ledley would have to have been shown a red card.

“Against Inverness, everyone saw on TV we should have had a penalty,” he continued. “Against St Johnstone in the cup we should have a penalty, and again no-one on the pitch saw it. And today, a goal. If you don’t see the ball behind the goal line, then you have to see the handball and then it’s a penalty and a red card. We are very unlucky with this.

“I don’t want to take any credit off Celtic. After this game we should be saying fantastic things about Celtic. But I have to remember we had a strong start and put Celtic under pressure. That was our strategy. And Celtic are very lucky because the referee, or the official, did not see the goal.” Lennon accepted that fortune had shone on his side. “Psychologically it might have given Hearts a lift if the goal had been given,” he said. “The ironic thing is that we go down the other end and score a goal. I think we copped a break – judging by the TV channels it looks as if it is over the line. I am really disappointed we didn’t deal with the initial header from the corner. But the reaction I got for the remaining 89 and a half minutes was magnificent.”

He purred about his side’s performance, particularly since it came in the hothouse of a venue which has so often proved a tricky place to visit for Celtic. “It’s probably the best performance in my time as manager,” he said. “We were devastating. I thought we were powerful, I thought we were quick on counter attack.

“I thought the intensity and quality of our play was expectional.

“There’s a long way to go but that was a big test tonight,” he added. “They [Hearts] caught us on a very good night.”

Celtic were 3-0 up after only 31 minutes. Victor Wanyama scored his side’s second after 18 minutes and Joe Ledley scored a third just after the half hour mark after good work from Georgios Samaras, who made the most of a mistake from Hearts skipper Marius Zaliukas. Gary Hooper completed the rout just before the hour mark. “I asked them to go out and win the second half,” he said.

“There was certainly no evidence of complacency tonight,” Lennon continued.

“It was all there tonight – the intensity of the atmosphere, the pace of the game and the pitch weas a good one to play on. The players relished the challenge tonight.

“That’s the standard they have set themselves. But I don’t expect them to reach that every week. There were some exceptionally good indiviudal performances there as a team.

“We wanted to put pressure on everyone chasing us.” The Celtic manager singled out James Forrest, Samaras, Hooper, Ledley, Brown and Charlie Mulgrew for praise.

“There were five or six who were on a different level,” he said. Brown, his skipper, was on another level completely, he noted. “I think there is more to come from Scott,” said Lennon.

“I think he is a really good footballer – what I call a proper, proper footballer. He is only 25. His peak years are ahead of him. There is no doubt he has been hampered by injury. But now we are seeing Scott Brown at his very best, and long may it continue. He is a powerful influence on the team.”