McManus doubles Hearts' outrage
By Roddy Forsyth
(Filed: 02/01/2006)

Hearts (2) 2 Celtic (0) 3

Eight tons of fireworks split the Edinburgh skies in the city's Hogmanay celebrations but even that spectacular was outdone by the flares and concussive action at Tynecastle yesterday, as Celtic brought in the New Year in rampaging style and became the first feet to inflict a home defeat on Hearts this season.

In an encounter studded with talking points, Hearts raced to a 2-0 lead and had the chance to kill the game just before the interval when Rudi Skacel saw his tightly angled drive blocked by Artur Boruc. Celtic regrouped at half-time but their route back into contention was forced by Stephen Pearson, who stepped from the Parkhead shadows in the most decisive manner imaginable when he began and ended the move which reduced Hearts' advantage.

Even then, Graham Rix's players were in charge of their own destiny until the most contentious incident of an enthralling afternoon. As Shaun Maloney surged towards the penalty area, Takis Fyssas arrived to intercept and the Celtic forward went down on the edge of the box. There was no suggestion that he dived - it is not Maloney's style and, if anything, he had lost control of the ball - but neither is it a Fyssas characteristic to inflict wilful damage, and there was no contact in the challenge.

Nevertheless, Ian Brines immediately brandished the red card, to the unbridled fury of the Hearts players. At which point everyone in the stadium sensed that this contest - and with it, perhaps, the Scottish title - had shifted direction decisively.

The pressing game which afforded Hearts such reward before the break was always likely to take its toll in the later stages, but in their depleted state Rix's players were more easily pushed towards the precipice, hence the ease with which the unlikely figure of Stephen McManus was able to score the two goals which secured Celtic's invaluable victory.

Neither manager believed that Fyssas' dismissal was justified but Rix, needless to say, was vastly more troubled than Gordon Strachan by the referee's call.

"He had to make a split-second decision, and I accept that, but what concerns me most is that Bobo Balde made the same challenge on Deveidas Cesnauskas in the first half - actually, it happened in a more central area - and that earned only a yellow card," Rix complained.

"It's not that I want to see players sent off - I don't - but I do want to see consistency, and though the Fyssas incident happened when the score was 2-1, I felt we were still in charge. It was really very harsh, but I can't say any more because I don't earn enough to be able to afford a fine.

"As it is, I told the players that I was very proud of them today and that if they keep playing like that, we'll stay in contention."

For his part, Strachan was magnanimous. "I thought Hearts blew us away for half an hour," said the Celtic manager. "We didn't have anything to match their physical power but we did have pace, and I said to the boys in the dressing room that if we scored - even if it took until 10 minutes from the end - we would get something from the game.

"Hearts also played some fine football but I thought the pivotal moment came when we scored. I don't care if they had still had 11 men on the field - I believe we would have taken something from it."

Strachan's conviction was well founded. Hearts' opening salvo was as devastating as it was impressive. Rix's men flew at their opponents and when Paul Hartley outpaced Neil Lennon for a cutback which was met by Edgaras Jankauskas, and helped into the net by Ross Wallace, Celtic looked vulnerable.

Two minutes later, a Skacel corner exploited the weakness in Celtic's zonal marking. By the time John Hartson had realised that Steven Pressley had stolen a march, the Hearts defender had planted the ball firmly behind Boruc.

The next goal became crucial and when it was netted by Pearson, not Skacel, Strachan's prognosis began to unfold. Not even the manager, though, could have foreseen McManus, of all people, heading the equaliser and then striking the winner, both from Shunuke Nakamura's supply.

The final whistle brought unsavoury scenes as a Hearts fan, maddened by Hartson's gesture of triumph to the crowd, threw himself on to the roof of the Celtic dugout and it took a police baton charge to separate brawling spectators outside the ground as hot tempers disfigured the Edinburgh streets.

Match details

Hearts (4-4-2): Gordon; Neilson, Pressley, Webster, Fyssas; Cesnauskis (Wallace 75), Brellier, Hartley, Skacel;, Elliot, Jankauskas (Pospisil 88).
Subs: Simmons, Banks (g), Berra, McAllister.
Goals: Jankauskas (5), Pressley (7).
Booked: Pressley, Neilson, Hartley, Skacel.
Sent off: Fyssas.
Celtic (4-4-2): Boruc, Telfer, Balde, McManus, Wallace; Nakamura, Lennon, Petrov (Pearson 48), Thompson (McGeady 62); Hartson, Maloney.
Subs: Marshall (g), Lawson, Virgo, Du Wei, Camara.
Goals: Pearson (54), McManus (86, 90).
Booked: Balde, McManus, Hartson, Boruc.
Referee: I Brines.

Taken from telegraph.co.uk