The highly anticipated match between the top two teams in Scotland saw league leaders Hearts come back twice to draw 2-2 against Celtic in a fiercely contested game.
Hearts boss Derek McInnes was looking to secure a hat-trick of wins against a third Celtic manager in a single season, which would put the Tynecastle side nine points clear at the top of the league.
However, an early goal for Celtic from a direct free kick stunned as Benjamin Nygren joined the top scorers in the league with a curling ball into the top corner, beating Hearts’ veteran keeper Craig Gordon seven minutes into the match.
Hearts needed to claw their way back into the game in the second half with goals from Stuart Findlay and Cláudio Braga, sandwiching a Hyun-Jun Yang goal assisted by Celtic’s latest signing.
First Half
From the outset, Celtic newcomer Tomás Čvančara was battling Hearts’ Craig Halkett in the air, using his height to his advantage. The physicality was to be a sign of things to come in a game fraught with tension.
Benjamin Nygren was fouled by the newly signed Hearts returnee Marc Leonard, leading to a free kick that the Swede curled into the top corner of the Hearts goal – a feat not seen by Celtic in over five years.
Despite chances for Hearts, including a chance for Braga to level the score minutes later, he was unable to put the ball beyond Celtic’s Kasper Schmeichel.
Hearts soon looked for a penalty as Landry Kabore went down in the Celtic box, but referee Steven McLean waved them away.
It would be Čvančara’s break with a heel-flicked pass onto Daizen Maeda that saw a huge chance for Celtic to go further ahead, but the Japanese forward was unable to make anything of it.
Although lauded for his efforts in Celtic’s mid-week European contest, Austin Trusty saw different fortunes in this game.
In the last big chance before the end of the half, Trusty failed to play a bouncing ball back to his keeper, which saw Alexandros Kyziridis sneak past and take a shot that was almost certain to level the score were it not for an outstretched Schmeichel using the entirety of his body to block the attempt, sending the ball to safety.
HT: Hearts 0 – 1 Celtic
Second Half
Minutes into the second half, a Hearts corner swung into the box by Leonard, reached Stuart Findlay, who had been stalking the back post, giving him the chance to beat Schmeichel and level the score, and claim his sixth goal of the season.
Findlay’s goal saw the Gorgie side’s confidence come back with a vengeance, as their press put serious pressure on the Celtic defence, much to the cheers of the relieved fans, who had aired their frustrations throughout the previous half.
Hearts’ efforts to score again forced Scales into a last-dash effort to stop a second goal, clipping the ball away as Kyrziridis squared up a shot.
With half an hour left to play, Nygren worked the ball into the box, where a waiting Čvančara’s headed effort came off the crossbar, denying the Czech player his first goal on his debut.
But minutes later, Čvančara assisted in a goal for his team, as a break from Daizen Maeda saw the ball go through to the striker, who powered past the Hearts defence, where he played the ball through to the arriving Yang, whose powered shot flew past Gordon and again put Celtic ahead.
With less than twenty minutes to play, Dane Murray replaced Kieran Tierney, and no sooner had the Celtic defence switched than Kabore broke through their lines and Trusty made his final mistake of the game as VAR ruled the foul as a denial of a goal-scoring opportunity by the American, seeing the defender sent off as his yellow card was upgraded to a red.
Following Trusty’s dismissal, Anthony Ralston was hastily introduced to shore up the Celtic wayward defence.
In the final ten minutes, nerves would ripple through both sets of fans as a chaotic scramble in the box saw a loose ball lead to a frantic goal-line clearance by Engels after Schmeichel failed to clear.
Claudio Braga then added his thirteenth goal of the season with a failed free kick clearance meeting him, giving him the chance to bring Hearts level with only minutes left of the second half.
As the fourth official’s board went up to indicate eight extra minutes, the shouts and jeer spilled over as both teams steeled themselves to fight for a late winner to save themselves from sharing the important three points, with injured Hearts captain Lawrence Shankland leading the cheering section from behind the dugout.
A chance at the very end of the game saw Araujo’s effort to stop a goal see Kyziridis’ last-minute strike fly over the bar to the heartbreak of the home fans and the relief of a Celtic bench that had seen emotions fly.
Post-Match
Speaking after the game, Hearts head coach Derek McInnes weighed up the positives that he believed his side took from a hard-fought game.
McInnes said: “It wasn’t the start we were looking for, but I thought prior to half-time, ‘this is exactly what I was looking for, a lot of what was happening was what we were hoping for.’ We just didn’t have the goal to show for it.
“But the belief and the confidence of the team is clear. We always feel we’re going to score.”
On the match, Celtic interim manager Martin O’Neill said: “It was a tough old match. I expected to be, and that’s exactly what it was.
“I was delighted with the effort of the team, particularly towards the end when we were down to 10 men again,” in reference to the second game in a row, where Celtic were forced to play with ten men and again ended the game with a two-all draw.
The draw leaves Hearts six points ahead of Celtic, while Rangers’ 3-0 over Dundee sees them move into second place in the league, four points behind the league leaders.
Celtic move their attention to Europe, as they will host FC Utrecht on Thursday before facing Falkirk in Glasgow on Sunday.
Meanwhile, Hearts will head to Tannadice on Saturday as they aim to extend their lead when they face Dundee United.
Full time: Hearts 2-2 Celtic
Scorers: Hearts – Stuart Findlay (48’), Cláudio Braga (87’) | Celtic – Benjamin Nygren (7’), Hyun-Jun Yang (62’)
