WRECKING THE INVINCIBLE RUN
Celtic’s long undefeated streak halted in stunning fashion as Hearts tear champions to pieces at Tynecastle
AFTER 19 months and 69 games, Hearts didn’t just end the longest unbeaten record in British football. They systematically ripped it to shreds.
The first team to beat Celtic in domestic competition since St Johnstone back in May 2016, the Tynecastle side were entitled to revel festively in every minute of this frankly staggering result. No one more so than their manager.
Craig Levein has had his critics of late, some more vocal and persistent than others. Credit, then, for a very old-school victory born of the qualities which make him a formidable Premiership operator. A high-tempo, energetic display, Hearts borrowed their tactics from Anderlecht — swarming around Celtic like demented wasps and unnerving their opponents from the outset.
‘At 89 minutes, I thought: “We might win this”,’ joked Levein afterwards. ‘And it felt quite good.
‘Up to that point, I was just ranting and raving like a madman. But I’ll enjoy it tonight.’
Sixteen-year-old Harry Cochrane will rightly claim the headlines after capping a remarkably mature performance with a fine opening goal. Yet Hearts had stand-outs in all areas.
David Milinkovic scored his first goal for the club, before quickly adding a second, and Kyle Lafferty capped a selfless day of terrorising the Celtic defence with a fine strike.
‘He’s just a delight to work with,’ said Levein of Cochrane. ‘He’s wellgrounded, a well brought-up boy who just loves playing football.
‘Whether it’s in the Under-17s, the Under-20s or the first team, there’s no fear.
‘Okay, it’s all new to him just now and he’s going about with a smile like a Cheshire cat, as you can imagine, and there will be tough times in the future for him. But he has really got something about him.
‘It’s not easy as a 16-year-old to play in a game like that and do well.’
When PSG scored five in Glasgow earlier in the season, it was Celtic’s most outlandishly heavy defeat since a 5-0 loss to Hearts at Parkhead in 1895. Few knew then how close the Tynecastle side would come close to repeating the feat just weeks later.
Celtic’s run had to end sometime. Yet the nature of an inept defeat raises fresh questions ahead of the January window. This marked the first time in 76 games the team in green and white had failed to score in domestic competition. The bigger problems lie in other areas.
Centre-halves Jozo Simunovic and Dedryck Boyata presided over the loss of a 2-0 lead at Hibs last week. Here, they performed like giraffes tip-toeing across thin ice.
German defender Marvin Compper is poised to join in a £900,000 move from RB Leipzig, the regret for Rodgers being that he couldn’t get him in for the second half yesterday.
Conceding a needless late penalty for the fourth Hearts goal, goalkeeper Craig Gordon didn’t do himself too many favours either.
Celtic have now lost more points before Christmas than they did in the whole of last season. Stumbling towards the winter break and a chance to regroup, the saving grace here was that Hearts didn’t score more.
God knows, there were chances before teenager Cochrane became the youngest Hearts league goalscorer in the modern era.
David Bowman was younger than 16 years and eight months when he scored his first goal for the Tynecastle club. But he never did it against a team unbeaten in 69 games.
The best day of the teenager’s young life so far caught fire after 26 minutes. Hearts had already
threatened Celtic more than once. Gordon escaped an early scare when he passed the ball straight to Don Cowie as the veteran midfielder chased down an attempt to pass the ball from the back.
Lafferty was wrongly flagged offside when he controlled a ball over the top on his chest with a clear chance to score. Ross Callachan cracked a bouncing half-volley inches over the bar.
The goal was coming, then, when Cochrane collected a low pass from Cowie and thumped a fizzing left-foot strike low into Gordon’s bottom corner from 18 yards
So often the bane of Hearts at this venue, Leigh Griffiths’ lack of first-team action told in an opening half when he had three chances. He mis-hit two from James Forrest cutbacks and smashed another chance into the side-netting when he should have hit the target.
In every department, Celtic were off-key and, give Hearts full credit, they took advantage.
The second goal came ten minutes from half-time, stemming once more from nervous, edgy defending and ruthless exploitation from the home team.
Boyata fed Callum McGregor the ball on the halfway line when the midfielder was tightly marked.
There was no surprise when he was robbed by Milinkovic and the Hearts No11 — who was excellent — picked out an unmarked Lafferty in acres of space. He advanced before thumping a raking low shot into the bottom right-hand corner past Gordon from 20 yards.
Only once in the Brendan Rodgers’ reign had Celtic gone two goals down in a domestic game. That was at Motherwell in December 2016. The Parkhead side clawed their way back into the game that day to win 4-3. And, privately, plenty probably fancied them to come out and do the same again here when Stuart Armstrong and Moussa Dembele entered the fray and they went to three at the back.
‘At 2-0, it’s still okay,’ said Rodgers afterwards. ‘We can score goals — but then we make another mistake and it goes to 3-0 and it becomes really difficult.’
The third Hearts goal was a personal disaster for Simunovic. On a day, when Celtic were never sure on their feet at any point, the Bosnian contrived to fall over as he sought to deal with a meat and drink long ball, gifting Milinkovic the opportunity to compose himself, round Gordon and roll the ball into the corner of the net.
Griffiths finally provoked something approaching a save from Jon McLaughlin in 55 minutes with a driven shot after a one-two. Even at 3-0 down, Rodgers still fancied it.
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