Hearts demolish Celtic in three-goal thriller

30/04/2006 - 15:50:36

FT: Hearts 3 Celtic 0

Hearts took a giant step towards Champions League football next season with a 3-0 demolition of Celtic in a pulsating Bank of Scotland Premier clash at Tynecastle.

A Stephen McManus own goal after seven minutes and a wonderful Paul Hartley free-kick two minutes later had the SPL champions rattled before the break and when Roman Bednar made it three after the interval there was no way back for the champions.

The Jambos are still four points ahead of third-placed Rangers with just two games remaining.

Hearts were never going to relinquish their impressive lead and although they slowed the pace down in the finals stages, they retained an element of threat in attack.

The Celtic players continued to push forward but struggled to shrug off the notion that they were just looking forward to the final whistle.

In the 87th minute however, Hoops’ substitute Stilian Petrov, on earlier for Lennon, forced Gordon into a wonderful save with a close-range drive which was tipped over for a corner.

It was simply not Celtic’s day.