Celtic ... 2 Hearts ... 0 Henrik Larsson broke the hearts of Parkhead visitors Hearts - and Old Firm rivals Rangers - with two late goals last night to maintain the out-of-sort champions' 13-point lead at the top of the Scottish Premier table.
The Swede and his team-mates looked to be desperately short of form as the Edinburgh outfit threatened to cause an upset.
Suddenly, with Celtic struggling to find their form and Rangers coming back from two goals down to win 4-2 at Dunfermline, there was hope among their arch-rivals that their nerves would twitch.
Larsson, however, had other ideas and even though he missed a number of good opportunities throughout he kept focused and got on the scoresheet twice.
Still, there were only 10 minutes to go when Celtic took the lead when Larsson coolly steered his header from a left-wing cross past Niemi and into the corner.
That seemed to lift him to another level and he confirmed his return to form with five minutes left with an emphatic right-foot volley past Niemi from Lubo Moravcik's cross.
CELTIC: Douglas, Mjallby, Balde, Valgaeren, McNamara, Lennon, Lambert, Thompson, Petta (Moravcik 66), Larsson, Hartson. Subs Not Used: Gould, Boyd, Maloney, Smith. Booked: Mjallby. Goals: Larsson 80, 86.
HEARTS: Niemi, Flogel, Pressley, Webster, Mahe, Simmons, Severin, Gronlund (Boyack 83), Fulton (Kirk 83), Fuller, Wales (Adam 78). Subs Not Used: McKenzie, McCann. Booked: Gronlund, Adam.
Referee: B Orr (Scotland).
