SPL Sunday May 15th 2005

Hearts 1

Celtic 2

0:1 Thompson 25
1:1 Hartley 71
1:2 Beattie 77

Att: 15,972

MIB: Willie 'Good Riddance' Young

Celtic: Douglas Agathe Balde Varga McNamara Petrov Lennon Sutton Thompson Bellamy Hartson

subs Beattie for Hartson 66

Once again, Celtic proved to be the nemesis of the Jambos and comfortably dispatched the Edinburgh Orcs with a solid, experienced performance on the Gorgie midden.

The Maroon baloons, however, showed no signs of being deflated by the departure of diminutive gas bag John Robertson. Instead, marshalled by Elvis, their horde of mythical stars set about Celtic with as much bluster as a Govan Orc trying to prise on an XXXL jersey. As usual, they soon ran out of puff, despite encouragement from RabD as he flapped at early crosses.

Before long the Hoops began to exert control, with Bellamy stretching their backs and Hartson rumbling Elvis. Early chaces were soon being carved out, but it took a Thompson drive to skelp off Neilsen's heels, as he nutmegged the Orc, to beat Gordon. The Baloons looked burst and even when gifted a golden chance with a six yard box header, they fluffed it.

The second period saw Celtic presss their advantage, but MIB Willie Young didn't make life easy as he failed to spot a stonewaller when Hartson was pulled down by the arm in the box. Worse was to follow, when the Jambos equalised with 20 mins to go, following some comic defending by the Sieve. Even with several chances to clear or tackle, they allowed Hartley to nip in to score.

The replacement of Hartson by Beattie injected some pace into the proceedings, as a Sutton header blasted off the bar and was cleared off the line. It was clear that Celtic were not going to give up without a fight. Lennon and Petrove dug deep and Beattie began to harass Elvis. It soon brought rewards when the youngster blasted home the winner after a fine run. Hearts rallied for a grand stand finish, with Gordon going up field in the dying seconds to try to get an equaliser. It says a lot for his comittment to a team winning nothing this year.

The icing on the cake was when Elvis was red carded for diving in the last minute of injury time. The hacks will say it was a lucky escape fo the Hoops, but TV showed a dive. MIB Young got it right( yes I said it!).