Celtic went into Saturday’s game with Hearts on a massive high after securing a first home Champions League win for a decade just three days earlier. Stephen Kingsley, though, believes that euphoria helped contribute to their downfall. The scorer of the second goal – a stunning free kick – revealed the Hearts camp had spoken beforehand about the possibility of their rivals being vulnerable to a come down in their first outing following that victory over Feyenoord.

That certainly seemed to be the case as goals from Lawrence Shankland and then Kingsley helped Hearts to their first league win at Parkhead since 2007. “I think they'll say it themselves, they were off it,” said the defender. “They had a massive game and win on Wednesday night. To be honest, anyone that plays the game will know that when you go from a massive high like that, the next game there's always a bit of sluggishness. It's hard to get straight back up for games again.

“It was something we spoke about before the game. Not just Celtic, any team that has such a high in midweek it's just a natural thing that happens. Subconsciously it is always tough to come back off such a big high and play again at the weekend. We knew we wanted to make this chance count and went into the game really confident. It was a good time to play them for us. But we defended very well. They were having shots but weren't splitting us open regularly. When the first went in it was about the mental side of things for us. I thought we were brave on the ball, especially the first half.”

Stephen Kingsley curls home this free-kick to make it 2-0 to Hearts at Celtic Park.

Less brave was Kingsley, who watched the second half from the sanctuary of the Hearts dressing room after picking up a groin injury that meant he had to be replaced at half-time. “I'm the most nervous person ever watching games so I was getting a bit of physio treatment first and then I was just listening in,” he revealed. “You're never comfortable at Celtic Park but I felt we were resolute in our shape. I was quietly confident we had a very good chance of seeing it out. I went out for the celebrations with about 30 seconds to go!”

That was merited after his first-half contribution, a thrilling 30-yard free kick and then a goal line block at the other end to deny Luis Palma what looked a certain Celtic goal. “I always feel like I've got a chance with free-kicks,” he added. “I'm comfortable with the technique I've got. I've had a couple of chances with them earlier this season which went close, but sometimes you need that bit of luck to see them go in. I've practiced it so much so I'm always confident and positive. This is the first one in a long time and I'm happy to get the monkey off the back.”

On his block, he added: “That one is such a reaction thing, you just need to throw your body in the way. To be honest I think a couple of the boys thought that was as big as scoring a goal. I think if they'd scored that one, coming up to half-time, it would have given them a big boost. I was pleased with that one.”

Hearts reveal Celtic vulnerability they preyed on as Stephen Kingsley explains his second-half sanctuary