Hearts welcomed new Celtic boss Wilfried Nancy to Scotland with a nightmare debut in the dugout as goals from Claudio Braga and Oisin McEntee moved the league leaders three points clear top of the Scottish Premiership with a 2-1 win at Celtic Park.
Nancy’s side dominated possession and territory against Derek McInnes’ out-of-form side, but after interim boss Martin O’Neill had clawed back an eight-point deficit to the top, Celtic handed the initiative back to the Hearts with a largely toothless performance.
Alexander Schwolow had a mostly straightforward afternoon in the Hearts goal and after being grateful to see Daezan Maeda miss an early sitter, had little else to worry him until the final minutes, when he denied an Arne Engels header and picked Kieran Tierney’s late consolation out of the back of his net in stoppage time.
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Claudio Braga’s goal puts Hearts ahead against Celtic in their crucial Scottish Premier League clash
Nancy looked to put an early stamp on his Celtic reign by changing to a back three in his first game, but it proved ineffective as the visitors picked the perfect moments to strike in either half to earn just a second win at Celtic Park since 2009.
The new boss will have been particularly frustrated to see his side switch off moments before half-time ahead of Braga’s opener as they waited for an offside flag which never came, only for a VAR review to punish them after finding the forward had been played on by Arne Engels.
Former Scotland forward James McFadden was similarly unimpressed on Sky Sports, saying: “I can understand everyone thinking he’s offside, it’s fine, it’ll be called off.
“But we speak about modern football, systems, techniques, but the one thing that has never changed is you play to the whistle and every single Celtic player stops.”
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Oisin McEntee puts extends Hearts’ lead in their important top of the table Scottish Premiership clash with Celtic!
He had called for a performance of intensity and personality which never materialised, and despite a brief rally at the start of the second period Celtic again lost concentration as McEntee’s header from Harry Milne’s corner doubled the lead just after the hour.
Celtic finally rallied in the final 10 minutes as Reo Hatate rattled the crossbar after Engels saw a header saved, but by the time Tierney’s strike reduced the deficit in front of a half-empty Celtic Park, there was barely a minute of added time remaining – and Hearts had little trouble seeing out a crucial victory to go three points clear at the top of the table.
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Kieran Tierney scores a late goal against Hearts in the top of table clash with Hearts in the Scottish Premiership
Nancy defends Celtic start: We had really good moments
Celtic manager Wilfried Nancy speaking to Sky Sports:
“The result was not what we wanted, but I think that we had a really good first half.
“We had opportunities to break and also to score goals. I think that we could have done better in terms of the last pass and the execution, but I really liked the way we unbalanced them to create chances.
“I think that this is something that we will be able to work on because it was really interesting.
“We conceded a goal against the momentum. Again, I think that when we rewatch the game, we can do better
“I think that we missed a bit of a connection in relation to being able to create a cross or pass, more pass than cross, and to get more numbers inside the box.
“This is something that I’m going to look at because, like I said, the spirit was spot on.
“We had really, really good moments, but obviously it was not enough.
“It was not easy for the players knowing that I came three days ago, but the mindset was spot on.”
Brown: It was always going to be tough after O’Neill
Former Celtic captain Scott Brown on Sky Sports:
“It was always going to be hard going in after Martin O’Neill with what he’s done in the past, and literally in the last few weeks.
“He’s wanted to change a lot of things, it’s not going to happen overnight. I get that.
“But it is a big week. You’ve got to win games. They had a couple of chances early on, but take nothing away from Hearts, they’ve done a fantastic job and Derek McInnes is doing a great job there.”
McInnes: Our fight isn’t with Celtic, it’s with ourselves
Hearts head coach Derek McInnes on Sky Sports:
“Our fight’s [with] ourselves, it’s not with Celtic.
“We just need to concentrate on ourselves, and see the importance at each and every point we get.
“This is the toughest place to come, but there’s the same three points next week, another tough venue in Falkirk.
“Every game is a challenge. We’re not wholly better than anybody else.
“Today we’ve got a result that lifts everybody, great for the supporters because I’m sure they’ve came here numerous times and not had a celebration.
“It’s good that we managed to give them that today.”
