Celtic 1-0 Hearts

Celtic won their 40th league title at Celtic Park last night with six games still remaining after extending their lead over Hearts to 20 points at the top of the SPL table with a hard fought victory. It was a nervous night for the home support as their nearest adversary competed well in a tight and bruising contest. But Celtic ground out their 26th league victory of the season, and in a year of transition, to win the league by such a huge margain and lose on two league games in the process is a remarkable achievement for Strachan and his coaching team.

The atmosphere was terrific inside the ground and the championship party got off to a flying start with a wonderful volley from the birthday bhoy John Hartson after only four minutes. Maciej Zurawski flicked a long ball down field from Boruc to the Welshman, who struck the ball early on the half volley and watched in delight as the ball bounced once before grazing the fingertips of Craig Gordon on its way into the net. Gordon was caught out by Hartson's opportunism and had got his angles wrong, but few inside Celtic Park were complaining as Celtic were on their way to another SPL title.


Hearts responded well to this set-back and almost snatched a goal back immediately. Following a free-kick by Hartley, Roman Bednar spun cleverly inside the penalty area and sent a low shot towards the bottom corner but Boruc did brilliantly to get a finger tip to ball and divert it round the post for a corner kick. Hearts were on top at this stage and defender Andy Webster gave Celtic Park a scare with a long-range lob onto the top of the net after Stephen McManus had failed to clear his lines properly.

In a tight first-half, Celtic's only other effort on goal was a set-piece from long range but Shunsuke Nakamura's effort was comfortably saved by Craig Gordon in the Hearts goal.

Hearts thought they had levelled the game five minutes after the break when Andy Webster bundled the ball home from close range, however celebrations were short lived as the Scotland international had strayed offside much to the Celtic faithful's amusement but to the Hearts coach Valdas Ivanauskas disgust. It was the correct decision from the linesman and Hearts can have no complaints.

Celtic were looking for a comfort zone and defender Bobo Balde almost gave them this but he mis-hit a shot straight at Gordon from a good position in the box. Boruc was again at full-stretch to keep out a low, angled strike from Bednar as the game began to open up. The Polish no.1 was then forced to make a similar stop to keep out an effort from substitute Skacel as Hearts pressed for an equaliser.

Hearts strongly appealed for a penalty late on when Balde mis-timed a clearance and whacked the striker and interim coach Valdas Ivanauskas was sent to the stands for his protest. It would have been a harsh decision if given, but the Celtic defence deserved the bit of luck as they were outstanding on the night.

The final few minutes saw Hearts desperately look for an equaliser with Webster playing as striker, and they were camped in and around the Celtic penalty area for long periods. However, Celtic comfortably held firm to capture their 4th league title in 6 years much to the delight of the Celtic faithful and secure a league and League Cup double in Strachan's first season at the club. Celtic have now won 50% of the league titles since Stein took charge in the mid 60s and so are the most successful Scottish side in recent times. Having also reached three European finals in this time including two European Cup finals, the last 40 years have been very successful for the Bhoys, and with some superb youngsters breaking through into the first team the future looks bright and prosperous.


Celtic (4-4-2):

Boruc

Telfer Balde McManus Wilson

Nakamura(Pearson 58) Petrov Lennon Maloney(McGeady 82)

Zurawski Hartson(Dublin 69)

Subs Not Used: Marshall, Thompson, Varga, Wallace.


Hearts: Gordon, Neilson, Webster, Berra, Fyssas, Cesnauskis, Hartley, Brellier (Elliot 85), Mikoliunas (Skacel 62), Bednar, Jankauskas (Pospisil 54)

Subs Not Used: Banks, Tall, Aguiar, Petras.


Referee: D McDonald

Attendance: 59,699