Achievement for the ages as Celtic emulate 1906 feat to leave Hearts rock bottom - but why the empty seats?

Luke McCowan slots home his first goal for Celtic to secure all three points against Hearts (Photo by Ross MacDonald / SNS Group)

On what was a landmark day on several fronts, Steven Naismith saw his 38th birthday ruined by a Celtic team who made it five league games without losing a goal since the start of the season. The last time a Celtic side managed this feat was 1906.

This was a pleasing additional detail on an afternoon when manager Brendan Rodgers could not have asked for much more. Two new signings, including the club’s record transfer, provided the goals and Kasper Schmeichel has still to concede in the league. The last Celtic goalkeeper to be beaten in a league match is now several months into his retirement. Arne Engels, their £11 million man, stroked home a penalty seven minutes into the second half. Luke McCowan made the best of a slightly over-hit assist from fellow substitute James Forrest to make it 2-0 and secure the points, his shot going in after Craig Gordon had palmed the ball onto a post.

Perhaps the only disappointment was the number of supporters who left long before the end and so were not there to greet Colin Steven’s final whistle and hail a historic result. There is no one alive who can say they were there the last time Celtic posted five clean sheets at the start of a league season when beating Third Lanark 2-0. It was 118 years ago. This achievement deserved a more stirring backdrop than 20,000 or so empty seats with fans starting to drift out en masse long before the end.

The match itself was partly a tale of two penalties, one given for handball and one not after VAR checks. It’s perhaps not too surprising to learn which way around it was. What was particularly agonising for Hearts is that the referee originally gave the visitors a first-half penalty for handball against Liam Scales following a header from Lawrence Shankland, before withdrawing it after a trip the monitor. The referee then didn’t initially consider a handball by James Penrice to be a penalty until watching a re-run.

Needless to say, Naismith was unhappy, complaining that if you give one then you have to give the other. Rodgers was sympathetic but not quite in agreement with his opposite number’s interpretation of the situation. “When you look at it, the rules are perfectly clear,” the Celtic manager said. “Both of them (Shankland and Scales) are grappling and the ball comes down onto his sleeve, shoulder, so in everyone’s book that’s not a penalty. But you want it. I understand that.

“Likewise, the law tells you that if your arm is out of what would be the silhouette of your body, and it hits you, then that is a penalty. And that’s how it worked out.”

Talking of working out, the only thing that didn’t go Celtic’s way was a late goal ruled due to a fractional offside decision against substitute Adam Idah, who had stroked home for 3-0. Everything else went their way and they look in supremely good shape ahead of their opening Champions League fixture of the season against Slovan Bratislava on Wednesday.

Engels converted his penalty with a nonchalance that augurs well for a man supposedly operating under the intense pressure of being Celtic’s record buy.

McCowan, a somewhat cheaper acquisition from Dundee, continues living out his dreams. He replaced man of the match Engels after 80 minutes and scored his side’s decisive second to clock up his second goal against Hearts in a matter of weeks for different clubs.

Celtic are his boyhood side, though, so this was an extra special strike. It seemed to take an age to go in after Gordon helped the ball onto a post before it rebounded in. McCowan’s teammates ran to celebrate with him in the corner.

Although the better team, Celtic needed it. Indeed, Hearts had nearly equalised moments before. A sweeping ball in from the left from substitute Alan Forrest probably should have been turned in by fellow sub Musa Drammeh. His connection was not true enough and Schmeichel was able to smother the ball. The majority insider Parkhead breathed a sigh of relief.

Alan’s brother James was presented with a shirt with 500 on the back prior to kick-off to mark reaching that milestone number of games for Celtic. He was then shown to his seat in the dugout. He was not immediately required.

This was a day for others, mainly new record transfer Engels, who replaced Paulo Bernardo in the side and played with a maturity beyond his 21 years, including slotting home a penalty in front of the Jock Stein Stand shortly after half time.

He hadn’t perhaps been expecting to take it but then who otherwise was going to assume duties following Matt O’Riley’s departure. Reo Hatate had the ball in his hands but a quick word in his ear from captain Callum McGregor persuaded him to offer the ball to Engels, who had already hit the post with a shot in the first half.

It’s stretching it to say the kick would shape his Celtic career, but no-one wants to fluff such an opportunity at such an early stage of a hopefully fruitful relationship. There were no worries on that front. He stroked the ball into the right-hand corner and saw Gordon dive the other way.

Kyogo Furuhashi had earlier been making a nuisance of himself and was fortunate to escape a booking for a couple of rash challenges, one of which left Gordon slumped on the turf. The 41-year-old moved gingerly for a while but was on hand to palm clear a deflected Hatate effort and save brilliantly from Kyogo shortly before half time, with Penrice clearing Kuhn’s follow-up effort off the line equally heroically.

These blocks kept Hearts very much in the game so it’s easy to understand Naismith’s frustration when his side fell behind so soon after half-time to a penalty that was awarded after a significant wait. Birthday or not, if your luck’s out, it’s out.