Hearts close to Champions League dream

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Heart of Midlothian (2) 3 Celtic (0) 0

Vladimir Romanov accepted the salutes of the delirious Hearts supporters at the end of yesterday's game which saw their team take a decisive stride towards Champions League football for the first time in the club's history.

However, the richest plaudits must go to the Tynecastle players, who have endured a season of turmoil, yet have never dropped out of the top two in the Scottish Premier League table throughout the campaign.

Against Celtic, who looked more sluggish than they might have done had their title been still at stake, Hearts secured the victory which kept Rangers at bay and leaves them needing only two points to be certain of playing in the second Champions League qualifying round.

Within eight minutes the boys in maroon were two goals ahead, both the consequence of Paul Hartley's educated right foot.

Hartley did have a little assistance on each occasion - first from the head of Stephen McManus, as the Celtic player redirected a free-kick past his own goalkeeper, and then, at another set piece, from the referee.

When Stanislav Varga brought Roman Bednar to ground on the edge of the Celtic box, Hartley asked Alan Freeland if he could take the resultant free-kick immediately and, upon being given the nod, swept his drive past a bemused Artur Boruc.

Hartley, having shaken the referee's hand on the way back to the centre circle, later praised the official for his prescience. "I asked the ref if I could take it quickly because Boruc was still arranging his wall and I got good pace on the ball."

"Sometimes they won't let you take a quick free-kick, so all credit to him for saying yes on this occasion."

Celtic were aggrieved that Roy Keane was denied the benefit of a similar request late in the game, but Gordon Strachan, the Parkhead manager, did not want to make an issue of the apparent contradiction.

"The rules are fine and I was the only SPL manager who attended the referees' briefing at the start of the season, so I should be the one who is heard, and I don't have a problem with what happened," Strachan said.

"Our defenders didn't handle their forwards as well as their defenders handled ours. I've had to listen to a bit of comment about how we motivate the players in these games. Not many managers have had to cope with a situation of winning the league with seven games to go, so it's our own fault for getting into such a horrific position. Maybe we will try to make it more exciting next season."

Rudi Skacel - thought last night to have signed a contract to stay at Tynecastle, although Hearts denied the claim - had the chance to make it 3-0 before the break, only to see his effort rebound off the post.

But the home crowd's anxiety was assuaged midway in the second half when Hartley found a gap as Celtic's back-line pushed up and he threaded a pass perfectly into the path of Bednar, who drew Boruc off his line and then curled the ball between the goalkeeper and his far post.

Such composure was the hallmark of Hearts' performance on this occasion. Certainly, they had their share of ragged possession but they knew they had to deal with Rangers' late challenge - the Ibrox side had closed to within a single point after their 3-2 victory over Kilmarnock on Saturday - and controlled things to such effect that Strachan was forced to deploy all his substitutes before Hearts made any changes.

Now all that is required to crown their league campaign is for Rangers to drop points at Hibernian tomorrow, or for Hearts to beat Aberdeen at Tynecastle on Wednesday.

Match details

Hearts (4-4-2): Gordon; Neilson, Pressley, Tall (Berra 81), Fyssas; Cesnauskis (Barasa 83), Hartley, Aguiar, Skacel; Jankauskas, Bednar (Pospisil 74).
Subs: Banks (g), Wallace, Brellier, Driver.
Goals: McManus (7 og), Hartley (9), Bednar (63).
Booked: Skacel, Jankauskas.
Celtic (4-4-2): Boruc; Telfer, Varga, McManus, Wilson; Nakamura (Hartson 72), Keane, Lennon (Pterov 66), Maloney; Dublin, Zurawski (Pearson 67).
Subs: Marshall (g), Thompson, McGeady, Wallace.
Booked: Dublin, Lennon, Hartson.
Referee: Alan Freeland.

Taken from telegraph.co.uk