Celtic fail to capitalise on Rangers' title race slip-up

Celtic lost 2-0 to Hearts as they failed to capitalise on Rangers’ slip up and move back to the top of the Scottish Premiership.

The Hoops knew a victory would move them a point clear of their Old Firm rivals, but Adam Idah missed an early penalty before Hyun-Jun Yang was sent off for a perceived dangerous challenge on Alex Cochrane.

Matt O’Riley’s goal was ruled out for offside before Hearts, who also beat Celtic in December, were awarded a spot kick for Tomoki Iwata’s handball.

Jorge Grant sent goalkeeper Joe Hart the wrong way and Tynecastle Park burst into life.

Lawrence Shankland smashed in a second for the Jambos after he had an earlier strike disallowed for a tight offside.

After the game, an angry Brendan Rodgers described the match officials as “really, really poor” and hit out at “shocking decision making.”

It is the first time since 2018 that Celtic and Rangers have lost on the same weekend as the gap at the top remains two points.

Hearts remain the best of the rest in third.

Celtic fail to return top of the Scottish Premiership

Hearts made a bright start and they had a good chance in the eighth minute when Shankland’s cross from the right picked out Cochrane just inside the box but the left wing-back got his shot all wrong and fluffed it well wide.

Then came a couple of huge moments in quick succession in which Celtic allowed the game to swing heavily in the hosts’ favour.

The Hoops were awarded a penalty in the 11th minute when Cochrane was deemed to have fouled Yang but Idah saw his low-struck spot-kick saved by the legs of Clark, another Hearts player looking to impress the Scotland management team in the lead-up to this summer’s European Championships.

Yang and Cochrane were again involved in the next major flashpoint just a few minutes later when the Korean midfielder caught the Englishman in the face with a high foot.

Referee Don Robertson booked the Celtic player initially but then upgraded it to a red card after being advised by VAR John Beaton to review the incident on the pitchside monitor.

This dramatic turn of events roused the home support and left Rodgers’ side facing a huge task in their quest to return to the top of the league.

Despite being a man down, Celtic did have the ball in the net in the 22nd minute when O’Riley’s low angled shot went in off both posts but the flag instantly went up to cut short the celebrations, with Idah offside in the lead-up.

Hearts sensed their chance of victory, however, and Alan Forrest headed over from Lembikisa’s cross in the 27th minute before Shankland was denied by Liam Scales’ brilliant goal-saving challenge.

Another big call went the way of Hearts in the 40th minute when – following a lengthy VAR review – they were awarded a penalty after the ball came down on to the arm of Tomoki Iwata as he rose amid a cluster of bodies to try and head the ball out of his box. Grant kept his cool to send Joe Hart the wrong way.

Hearts thought they had doubled their lead in first-half stoppage time when Shankland drilled home a low angled shot from eight yards out after being fed by a Forrest pass but the goal was eventually ruled out for offside following a lengthy VAR review.

Celtic sent on Kyogo Furuhashi in place of Bernardo for the start of the second half. But the Hoops found themselves two down in the 56th minute when Shankland swept home a clinical low strike from 15 yards out after team-mate Calem Nieuwenhof slipped while lining up a shot and inadvertently knocked the ball back into the striker’s path with the aid of a nick off Celtic left-back Greg Taylor.

The visitors were unable to summon a response and Hearts saw out victory in impressive fashion, sparking jubilant full-time scenes at Tynecastle.

Rodgers: The officials cost us

Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers on Sky Sports:

“I never like to comment on officials but that cost us today. The officiating from on field to John Beaton being on VAR, that was really poor.

“I look at the first incident (red card) and if you put a still on that it looks dangerous, but that’s not the reality of the move. There’s no force there, the ball’s popped up. It’s a booking.

“That’s really disappointing to go down to 10 men for that but to receive a penalty against us, wow, that was even worse.

“If you watch the incident again Tomoki’s jumped, he’s on his way down and he’s not looking as he’s been nudged a little bit which then pushes his arm out.

“If that’s a penalty then you will have penalties in every single game, every single week.

“That is just absolutely shocking decision making and I feel really disappointed for our players and our supporters.”

Naismith: We were brave

Hearts head coach Steven Naismith:

“It was a good performance and a good win.

“I thought we were brave, we were good on the ball and in the moments and we showed we were good enough.

“It was a jam-packed game in terms of incidents but, overall, I thought we deserved the win.

“I thought the penalty was soft but credit to Zander because that’s a big moment and if we get the bounce from the save we can go on and win it and that’s what we did.”

What’s next?

The attention now turns to the Scottish Cup quarter finals for both sides.

Celtic host Livingston on March 10 at 2.30pm while Hearts take on Championship side Morton on March 11 at 7.45pm.