Celtic record one of most one-sided 3-2 victories ever seen as Hearts head back along M8 counting lucky stars

If ever a scoreline was misleading, it is this one. Anyone who didn’t bear witness to another hugely encouraging 90 minutes for Ange Postecoglou and his burgeoning Celtic side might form the impression they edged a closely contested affair.

Odsonne Edouard (right) celebrates with team-mate James Forrest after opening the scoring for Celtic in their Premier Sports Cup tie against Hearts. (Photo by Craig Williamson / SNS Group)

The reality was that they claimed their place in the Premier Sports Cup quarter-finals with an utterly dominant performance against a Hearts side who should have headed back along the M8 after suffering a far greater margin of defeat. This was possibly the most one-sided 3-2 victory you could ever see.

There certainly won’t be too many gripes among the Celtic fans at the failure of Postecoglou’s men to translate their superiority into the drubbing this ought to have been.

The eye-catching momentum Celtic have built up over the past couple of weeks was maintained with goals from Odsonne Edouard, Stephen Welsh and the scintillating Kyogo Furuhashi proving sufficient as Hearts’ own sequence of six successive wins since the start of the season came to a juddering halt.

Celtic defender Stephen Welsh heads home to make it 2-0 in the Premier Sports Cup tie against Hearts. (Photo by Craig Williamson / SNS Group)

Somehow trailing just 2-0 at half-time, Hearts were given some hope by Liam Boyce’s penalty early in the second half. But Furuhashi’s fifth goal of the campaign staved off any threat of an unlikely comeback with substitute Aaron McEneff’s stoppage time goal too late to make any difference.

Neilson had predicted this tie would represent the biggest test his team had faced in six months and Celtic wasted no time in proving him to be emphatically correct in his assumption.

The potent combination of fluidity and intensity produced by the hosts saw Hearts placed in a stranglehold from the start, one they were simply unable to extricate themselves from.

While the Gorgie club’s fans may ultimately feel relieved they were denied access to Celtic Park on this occasion, it was a veritable feast for the eyes of a jubilant home support who are gleefully buying into the style of play being implemented by Postecoglou.

Hearts striker Liam Boyce sends Celtic goalkeeper Joe Hart the wrong way with a penalty to pull a goal back in the Premier Sports Cup tie. (Photo by Craig Williamson / SNS Group)

It was close to remarkable that Hearts actually managed to hold out for almost half an hour before Celtic’s relentless attacking movement delivered the breakthrough.

The visitors’ goal had lived a charmed life up until then as a series of crosses and surges into Craig Gordon’s penalty area somehow reaped no reward.

The Hearts captain made a fine save to keep out Furuhashi’s first attempt of the afternoon before a combination of desperate defending and poor finishing saw the Japanese international, Tom Rogic and Edouard all fail to convert clear-cut chances.

But Edouard, having been booked for simulation after taking a lazy tumble inside the box under a John Souttar challenge, simply couldn’t miss the opportunity which came his way in the 29th minute.

It stemmed from a sublime pass with the outside of his right boot from Furuhashi which found James Forrest on the right. The winger’s low cutback found Edouard unmarked for a close range tap-in beyond the helpless Gordon.

Edouard should have scored again three minutes minutes later from a similarly inviting position but this time shot tamely straight at Gordon.

Celtic’s second goal wasn’t delayed for too much longer. It came from a short corner routine on the left worked by Furuhashi and Edouard, the striker floating the ball into the six yard box for Welsh to head home.

Neilson could only feel grateful there was further damage inflicted upon Hearts before the interval and his half-time substitution of Josh Ginnelly for Andy Halliday succeeded in making his team more competitive.

Ginnelly provided an outlet for Hearts to get higher up the pitch, something they were unable to do at all in the first half.

Celtic continued to look the more threatening side with two more smart saves from Gordon denying Edouard. But Ginnelly recorded Hearts’ first attempt at goal in the 54th minute before playing his part as they halved the deficit three minutes later.

As Boyce moved ahead of the hesitant Carl Starfelt to get on the end of Ginnelly’s cross, he was clipped by the Swedish defender. It was a clear penalty and Boyce was unfazed by Hart’s animated efforts to unsettle him as he sent the former England goalkeeper the wrong way from the spot.

Celtic were suddenly facing the prospect of being made to pay for not putting the tie way beyond Hearts’ reach but it took them just six minutes to restore their two-goal advantage.

It was a calamity of sorts for Gordon who was unable to match his previous excellence as he contrived to help a rising shot from Furuhashi high into his own net. But it was another high quality goal from Celtic’s perspective as Rogic’s superb through ball created the opening for Furuhashi who fully deserved to see his name on the scoresheet.

Celtic should have added to their tally in the closing stages which saw James McCarthy given a warm reception from the crowd when he made his debut as a substitute for Rogic.

It was Hearts, however, who had the final word when McEneff latched onto Stephen Kingsley’s low cross and slid the ball beyond Hart at his near post in stoppage time.

Celtic (4-3-3): Hart, Ralston, Welsh, Starfelt, Taylor; Rogic (McCarthy 75), McGregor, Turnbull (Soro 88); Forrest, Edouard (Ajeti 88), Furuhashi (Montgomery 75). Subs not used: Bain, Bitton, Griffiths, Urhoghide, Shaw.

Hearts (4-4-2): Gordon, Souttar, Halkett, Kingsley, Cochrane (Walker 75); M.Smith, Baningime, Haring (McEneff 68), Halliday (Ginnelly 46); Mackay-Steven, Boyce. Subs not used: Stewart, Henderson, C.Smith, Denholm.

A message from the Editor:

Thank you for reading this article. We're more reliant on your support than ever as the shift in consumer habits brought about by coronavirus impacts our advertisers.

If you haven't already, please consider supporting our trusted, fact-checked journalism by taking out a digital subscription.