Scottish Premier League/Hearts 2 Celtic 1: Hearts produced an explosive second-half performance yesterday to beat the champions Celtic at Tynecastle where two goals from Roman Bednar secured the three points.
Their second successive league win will have Valdas Ivanauskas and his players in good heart at the start of a pivotal week for the club which sees them play AEK Athens at Murrayfield on Wednesday for the first leg of a Champions League final qualifying round tie.
"The result was deserved and very important before the Champions League game," said Ivanauskas. "But we sent our message (to Rangers and Celtic) last season."
Celtic may have fielded just two players who featured in the midweek friendly against Yokohama Marinos in Japan but Gordon Strachan's men looked lethargic and a different team from the one who outplayed Kilmarnock last weekend.
Bulgarian defender Ivaylo Petkov begins a trial period at Parkhead today but Celtic must invest heavily on this evidence if they are to build on last season's Premier League success.
Strachan made the surprising decision to leave out the club captain Neil Lennon from the starting line-up and the 35-year-old's afternoon turned decidedly worse when he stepped off the bench and his back-pass let in Bednar for the Hearts winner.
Strachan was earlier involved in the only interesting aspect of a dull first half when the Celtic manager was sent to the stand along with Hearts' assistant manager John McGlynn following a needless touchline confrontation.
With the Rangers manager Paul Le Guen looking on, Hearts started the second period in a manner which suggested they were keen to prove why many have tipped them to break the Old Firm's dominance of Scottish football.
Paul Telfer, undoubtedly Celtic's weak link on the right side of defence, allowed Bruno Aguiar time and space to pick out Bednar with a cross and the Czech forward came within inches of opening the scoring.
The 23-year-old did take advantage of Celtic's generosity on the same flank seconds later as he met Michal Pospisil's pass to slot home under Artur Boruc.
It came as a surprise when Celtic hauled themselves into the game with a Stilian Petrov goal from 15 yards following a sweeping counter-attack.
But the hosts sealed a victory which they deserved three minutes from time, as Bednar capitalised on Lennon's wayward pass.
Celtic's attentions now turn to Wednesday night's friendly against Chelsea.
Rangers needed a late own goal to snatch a 2-2 draw at home to Dundee United on Saturday.
Former Shamrock Rovers forward Noel Hunt shocked the home crowd with a 14th-minute opening goal for Dundee and Norwegian Christian Kalvenes made it 2-0 after the interval.
Rangers pulled back a goal from substitute Chris Burke before Steven Robb turned the ball into his own net with 11 minutes left.
Meanwhile, United have angrily denied claims that their supporters sang sectarian songs in a deliberate attempt to provoke Rangers fans.
Rangers chairman David Murray had urged fans to banish bigoted tunes from Ibrox ahead of the Dundee United clash.
The plea came in the wake of a £13,300 fine from Uefa for "discriminatory chanting" in their Champions League matches against Villarreal last season, as well as tough new directives issued by Uefa.
Rangers fans kept it clean on Saturday but Ibrox security chief Laurence MacIntyre called a radio phone-in show when people complained of hearing proscribed songs during the match.
He told the BBC show it was United fans who were responsible for the chanting.
However, a United spokesperson claimed their fans were singing a song similar to the banned "Billy Boys".
HEARTS: Gordon, Tall (Neilson 27), Pressley, Berra, Wallace, Mikoliunas, Aguiar, Brellier, McCann (Cesnauskis 63), Bednar, Pospisil (Makela 83). Subs not used: Banks, Beslija, Elliot, Karipidis. Booked: Brellier. Goals: Bednar 49, 87.
CELTIC: Boruc, Telfer, Caldwell, McManus, Wilson, Nakamura (Pearson 71), Jarosik, Petrov, McGeady, Zurawski, Miller (Lennon 66). Subs not used: McGovern, Riordan, Sno, Wallace, O'Dea. Booked: Jarosik, Wilson. Goal: Petrov 65.
Referee: S Dougal (Scotland).
