SCOTTISH PREMIER LEAGUE: Celtic 2 Hearts 1: A ROUSING second half and a smattering of good fortune saved Tony Mowbray from his first crisis as Celtic's manager.
Mowbray had heard his players jeered off at the interval against Heart of Midlothian and Celtic’s task in the second half would have been even greater had Artur Boruc not saved brilliantly from Andrew Driver.
Hearts were a goal ahead by that point and an eight-day spell in which Celtic had dropped two points at home to Dundee United and lost to a distinctly mediocre Hapoel Tel-Aviv side in the Europa League was clearly proving too much for the fans.
It was also proving a problem for Boruc and his team-mate Gary Caldwell, who had a heated verbal spat. Salvation, amid controversy, was at hand. Chris Killen scored the equalising goal before Glenn Loovens sealed victory three minutes into injury-time. The celebrations in the stands said all that needed to be known about how the three points were treasured.
“Expectancy is high at this club,” said Mowbray. “Fans do not want to hear me saying how well we have played after losing a game 1-0. Hopefully they went home happy. I thought we played exceptionally well when we had the ball.”
Hearts appeared to have a genuine grievance over the corner which led to that winning goal, the full-back Lee Wallace letting the ball run out of play in the belief the Celtic substitute Niall McGinn had taken the last touch. The mere fact there were four minutes of stoppage time added was curious after a second half in which neither physio came on to the field and no player was spoken to for time-wasting.
The Hearts manager, Csaba Laszlo, had been a relieved man before the late drama. Wallace and McGinn had tangled in an incident which could easily have led to a Celtic penalty. Guardian Service
CELTIC:Boruc, Hinkel, Caldwell, Loovens, Daniel Fox, McGeady, Brown, N'Guemo, Maloney (McGinn 69), McDonald, Killen. Subs not used: Zaluska, McManus, Carey, Crosas, Robson, Caddis. Booked: Brown, Daniel Fox.
HEARTS: Balogh, Bouzid, Goncalves, Zaliukas (Novikovas 37), Wallace, Santana, Michael Stewart, Palazuelos, Driver (Black 83), Craig Thomson, Obua. Subs not used: MacDonald, Kucharski, Jason Thomson, Johnny Stewart, Nade. Booked: Palazuelos, Black.
Referee:Dougie McDonald (Edinburgh).
