Revenge is sweet for Mcgregor as champ

speedily off his line. At the other end, Souttar couldn’t quite stretch for a cross flicked on by Christophe Berra. Then Souttar was short with a back-pass, Dembele attempted a lob, but the ball bounced on to the bar and over.

Unsurprisingly, the match programme went big on a moment from that 4-0 game rated by many Jambos the highlight of a disappointing season: Harry Cochrane’s goal. “The moment”, it declared under a blown-up photo, while the 17-year-old, recalling the strike for the umpteenth time, called it the biggest highlight of his tender life. But the prospecthadtobidehistimeandby the time he came off the bench Hearts were behind.

After Moore had lost the ball wide on the right, Rogic produced the pass of the afternoon: outside of the right foot with a subtle fade. Dembele killed the ball instantly, prodding past Mclaughlin to the delight of the away support who’d been singing “Champions again” non-stop.

Rodgers withdrew Odsonne Edouard, who was injured, and Dembele as a precaution and this was Berra’s opportunity to assume centre-forward duties.mindyou,withfortress Tynie’s reputation to save, he would have done this anyway.

But Hearts couldn’t quite get Cochrane on the ball, couldn’t quite contrive the craft to find an equaliser. The nearest things came at the other end although Celtic’s shooting became quite casual as the afternoon grew hotter. Maybe they thought they were back in Tenerife.

And then, deep into stoppage time, substitute Stuart Armstrong spied a gap in the tiring Hearts defence and crossed for fellow replacement Sinclair to add the third.

0 Kyle Lafferty, the scorer of Hearts’ goal just three minutes earlier, wasn’t as sharp with his defensive duties a Callum Mcgregor admitted Celtic’s 4-0 defeat the last time they visited Tynecastle turned yesterday’s match into a revenge mission.

“It was a good afternoon for us,” the midfielder said after the 3-1 victory. “We knew it was going to be difficult here, especially after the last result. It was in the back of the players’ minds and we wanted to put it right.” December’s shock reverse brought to an end the unbeaten run of Celtic’s Invincibles and remains this campaign’s only serious blemish for the new seven-in-a-row champions.

“We had a disappointing result here before which gave us that extra motivation to make sure it didn’t happen again,” added Mcgregor. “Full credit to the boys. We went out and put in a much better performance and secured a much better result.

“We know what Hearts are about. They’re a big and physical team and they’re very direct so you’ve got to stand up to that challenge to secure the victory and we did that.”

Mcgregor was pressed into service as a left-back but while he was quite pleased with his performance he do Kieran Tier ing among th in the away worry about being under

“It was oka for him. I’ve times now when we’re you have a l session. Tod ferent test bu to take it on.” Mcgreg addressed th