Celtic break Hearts

A quick-fire double from Glenn Loovens and Marc-Antoine Fortune closed the gap at the top of the SPL to 8 points, as Celtic cruised past Hearts at Celtic Park last night.

It was a spirited first half performance by the Edinburgh side, which led to a cagey affair on a cold night in the East End of Glasgow. However, Celtic’s pace and attacking threat shone through to make it a comfortable victory for Tony Mowbray’s men.

Over 44,000 packed into Celtic Park, many to get a glimpse of Celtic’s box office signing, Robbie Keane, who made his home debut since his loan move from Tottenham. Ironically, it was another Irishman, Aiden McGeady, who stole the show.

It was Keane who had Celtic’s first chance as he broke the offside trap, only to hit the side netting with a left-foot strike. Very few chances were created and Hearts looked very comfortable until the 25th minute, when Celtic mounted more pressure on the Jambos.

McGeady’s trickery got him through the Hearts midfield and he fed the ball to Scott Brown, whose poked shot was blocked by Hearts’ goalkeeper Marian Kello. The rebound was then fired over by Fortune.

Moments later it was McGeady again who drove at the Hearts defence and slipped the ball through to Keane whose shot was also saved by the Slovakian goalkeeper.

As half time came, news filtered through from Fir Park that Motherwell were leading against Rangers, which lifted the home crowd as the Celtic players came out to a wall of noise for the second half.

They didn’t have to wait too long before celebrating a Celtic goal. Little did they know a double was on its way. Diomansy Kamara’s corner was controlled by Loovens who turned and volleyed home with his left foot in the 49th minute.

Sixty seconds later, McGeady’s direct running caused more problems as he split open the Hearts defence and fed Fortune who cleverly finished to double Celtic’s lead.

From then on, there was some scintillating football from Celtic who were desperately trying to help Keane score his first SPL goal for his boyhood heroes.

Keane broke through wide on the right hand side and cleverly turned Lee Wallace inside out before chipping the ball inches wide of Kello’s goal.

Substitute Ki Seung Yeung then played a great ball over the top for the Irish skipper, who turned onto his right side at the edge of the box and shot just over the bar.

It wasn’t Robbie Keane’s night, but it was certainly a good night for Celtic as the full time whistle went. Rangers drew with Motherwell, which cuts their lead above Celtic to 8 points. Hibernian, who are breathing down Celtic’s neck also only managed a point at home to Aberdeen. Therefore, Tony Mowbray and his Celtic side will go into their next match at Pittodrie against the Dons full of confidence after a great second half display.