At the business-end of the season, Kyogo comes alive. Lawrence Shankland almost scored in under a minute. The Hearts forward had a stinker. His handball late in the second-half gave Celtic a penalty, well dispatched by O’Riley into the top corner and made the game safe.
Kyogo scored in three minutes. VAR took almost as long to decide he was onside and it was a goal. The Hearts keeper opted to punch out a corner. Hattate on the edge of the box, looked to shoot, but instead opted for a lobbed cross. Kyogo nipped in front of defenders and keeper to head into the net.
Hatate, in contrast, had one of those games where he ballooned shots over the bar and gave the ball away, but he’s still one of the best in midfielders in Scotland. He literally rolls with the ball and creates pockets of space all around him
The Japanese’s forwards second goal was a thing of beauty. Hearts had shaded possession. O’Riley on the right touchline on the half hour mark played one of those precision passes you see on video screens. Kyogo’s finish was also sublime. Running onto the ball and volleying home from inside the box. Simple but effective.
They had created chances. With Joe Hart making a wonderful fingertip saves from Devlin to keep Celtic ahead. Overall, the Celtic keeper had a great game. He wasn’t as busy as his counterpart in the Hearts’s goal, Zander Clarke who had to deal with almost twenty shots on goal and was easily Hearts’ best player. But Joe Hart had to make important saves at important times. And he was up for it. Vargas’s onside and offside shot was saved by Hart (if it went in, he’d have been on). And late in the game with it 2—0, Taylor went down on the touchline and Hart had to come out to block another one-on-one.
Brendan Rodgers went for the same team that started against Dundee. No surprise that James Forrest, who dragged us out of a giant hole of our own making, keeps his place. Nicolas Kuhn must be doing something extraordinary in training because he’s shown little on the big stage. It was good to see Kuhn, for once, hooked before Forrest. Maeda coming on. Forrest was by far our most effective winger. I’m hoping it’s Forrest and Maeda next week when we’ll beat Rangers and we’ll go through all that bullshit of it being not mathematically done yet.
Of course, we know Daizen Maeda is back. That thought fills me (and I suspect many others) with joy, because our win today and next week—and we’re Champions. Maeda always turns up against Rangers.
We’ve been reminded Hearts have beaten us twice. One was a free hit at Tynecastle. A penalty that wasn’t a penalty and a man sent off that shouldn’t have been. But we’ve moved on. Hearts other win is something we’ve grown used to. Smash and grab. Hearts actually played better today, shading possession in the first thirty minutes. This goes way back to the Postecoglou era and in recent matches against Dundee and Aberdeen, we’ve been lucky.
We were seven points ahead. Five points behind. Now we’re six ahead with the finishing line in sight. Plan A—beat Rangers and it’s done. But as Hearts showed in spells today, if the opposition get the first goal (we certainly hope not) then it’s not a given we’ll win. I’m pretty sure we will. Plan B is win out remaining matches. I’m pretty sure we’ll do that too. Then it’s fifty-fifty for the last game of the season and Cup Final.
We’ll take the league. First and last and always.
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