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Trivia
- Hearts produced the shock result of the season.
- Ex-Celt, Mark Burchill lined up for Hearts.
- Henchoz has a nightmare of a game and is generally a scapegoat for the result.
Review
Andy Webster's header from Marius Kizys' free kick was kept out superbly by David Marshall, but Miller reacted quickest to head in the rebound.
Celtic almost equalised immediately when Aiden McGeady curled a free kick into the box but John Hartson headed over from just six yards. Bobo Balde also missed from close range and that was to prove costly when Burchill scored Hearts' second. Miller played a perfectly-weighted ball through to the former Celtic striker and he steered his right-foot shot past Marshall and into the bottom corner.
Hartson had the ball in the net moments later when he headed Thompson's free-kick across Craig Gordon and into the far corner but the linesman had his flag up for offside. Stilian Petrov was next to be denied as Gordon pushed away his stinging long-range drive and then Ross Wallace, who had earlier replaced Stephane Henchoz, dragged a glorious chance wide of the post with Gordon well beaten. Celtic were still guilty of leaving gaps at the back at the beginning of the second half and Burchill could have scored again in the 50th minute but he pulled his right-foot shot wide from 19 yards. Gordon was by far the busier keeper however and he pulled off a terrific save to deny Hartson in the 62nd minute, acrobatically tipping the Welshman's header over.
Teams
Celtic:-
Marshall, Henchoz (Wallace 36), Balde, Varga, McNamara, Lennon, Petrov, Thompson, McGeady (Maloney 68), Bellamy, Hartson.
Subs Not Used:- Hedman, Sylla, Valgaeren, Fernandez, Lambert.
Hearts:-
Gordon, Neilson, Pressley, Webster, McAllister (Simmons 77), MacFarlane, Kizys (Stewart 72), Hamill, Wallace, Burchill (Elliot 62), Miller.
Subs Not Used:- Moilanen, Wyness, Berra, Cesnauskis.
Goals:- Miller 8, Burchill 19.
Booked:- Pressley, Neilson, MacFarlane.
Att:- 59,562
Ref:- H Dallas
Articles
- Match Report (BBC)
- Manager Interview (BBC) – O'Neill blames international duty.
Pictures
BBC
Celtic 0-2 Hearts
Lee Miller is congratulated on his opening goal
O'Neill makes title admission
Robertson delighted with win
Hearts produced one of the shock results of the season with a win over Celtic at Parkhead.
Despite being under pressure for much of the game, Hearts exploited holes in the Celtic defence to take the points.
The first goal came from Lee Miller, who followed up after David Marshall had saved from Andy Webster to head into the unguarded net.
Mark Burchill added the second after 19 minutes, breaking free of his marker to drive the ball past Marshall.
After a cautious opening few minutes from Hearts in which they gradually found their feet, the visitors took a surprise lead after eight minutes.
Andy Webster's header from Marius Kizys' free kick was kept out superbly by David Marshall, but Miller reacted quickest to head in the rebound.
Celtic almost equalised immediately when Aiden McGeady curled a free kick into the box but John Hartson headed over from just six yards.
Bobo Balde also missed from close range and that was to prove costly when Burchill scored Hearts' second.
Miller played a perfectly-weighted ball through to the former Celtic striker and he steered his right-foot shot past Marshall and into the bottom corner.
Hartson had the ball in the net moments later when he headed Thompson's free-kick across Craig Gordon and into the far corner but the linesman had his flag up for offside.
Stilian Petrov was next to be denied as Gordon pushed away his stinging long-range drive and then Ross Wallace, who had earlier replaced Stephane Henchoz, dragged a glorious chance wide of the post with Gordon well beaten.
Celtic were still guilty of leaving gaps at the back at the beginning of the second half and Burchill could have scored again in the 50th minute but he pulled his right-foot shot wide from 19 yards.
Gordon was by far the busier keeper however and he pulled off a terrific save to deny Hartson in the 62nd minute, acrobatically tipping the Welshman's header over.
Kizys could have killed the game off but he poked the ball just past the post from eight yards with Marshall beaten.
Miller could also have wrapped up the points in the 78th minute but completely missed Calum Elliot's ball across the face of goal.
Bellamy could have made it an anxious final three minutes for Hearts but he blazed over Celtic's last chance from eight yards out.
Celtic: Marshall, Henchoz (Wallace 36), Balde, Varga, McNamara, Lennon, Petrov, Thompson, McGeady (Maloney 68), Bellamy, Hartson.
Subs Not Used: Hedman, Sylla, Valgaeren, Fernandez, Lambert.
Hearts: Gordon, Neilson, Pressley, Webster, McAllister (Simmons 77), MacFarlane, Kizys (Stewart 72), Hamill, Wallace, Burchill (Elliot 62), Miller.
Subs Not Used: Moilanen, Wyness, Berra, Cesnauskis.
Booked: Pressley, Neilson, MacFarlane.
Goals: Miller 8, Burchill 19.
Att: 59,562
Ref: H Dallas
O'Neill blames international duty
Celtic manager Martin O'Neill
O'Neill watched his side fall to their third home league defeat
Celtic manager Martin O'Neill says international commitments played a significant part in his side's defeat by Hearts at the weekend.
Celtic had 10 players on international duty the week before Saturday's game.
O'Neill told the Celtic View: "The international break most definitely affected our preparations.
"We didn't see the majority of the squad together again until the day before the game. In fact Stilian Petrov didn't get back until Friday night."
Hearts also had players away on international duty, but O'Neill says the effect on his players was obvious.
"If you actually look at some of the other games being played across Europe in the wake of the internationals where teams have had a number of their players away with their national sides you will see it has definitely had an effect on their results as well," he added.
"During the game against Hearts you could see some of the players were tired, particularly the ones who had played two games the week before."
But O'Neill admitted: "In a month's time no-one will remember these sorts of things and they will only remember the result."
Burchill breaks Celtic hearts
Patrick Glenn at Celtic Park
The Observer, Sunday 3 April 2005 23.42 BST
Heart's first victory here in five years will doubtless give rise to the widespread presumption that this was a fluke result. That simply emphasises the dangers of leaping to conclusions.
From the moment Lee Miller scored the first of the Edinburgh club's goals, there was a composure and self-certainty about John Robertson's players that made them incontestably worthy of a winning margin that was stretched by Mark Burchill's strike not long after.
Comfortable in defence, strong in midfield and dangerous on the break, Hearts appeared to have all the conviction that a curiously pallid Celtic lacked on a day when the Premierleague champions, having created two authentic scoring chances in the game, suffered serious damage to their prospects of retaining the title.
Whenever team's visiting Celtic Park or Ibrox take the lead, the goal is invariably accompanied by the kind of shock that suggests they have no right to such impertinence. It is not difficult, therefore, to imagine the reaction when Hearts doubled their early advantage by exploiting some dreadful slackness by the home team's defenders.
In this regard, the Hearts strikers deserve enormous credit. It is one thing to be conceded opportunities by the Old Firm, quite another to convert them with the calm aplomb of Miller and Burchill.
Celtic hardly had time to establish a rhythm when they were unsettled by that strike from Miller. The free-kick Marius Kizys delivered from the left should have been a mere trifle to Celtic's tall men in defence, but Andy Webster got there first.
The Hearts defender's close-range header into the ground seemed to cause the ball to roll up David Marshall's body and bounce out to Miller, who sent a header back over the line from about five yards.
If there was collective culpability at Celtic's defending for that goal, the blunder that led to the second was all Stéphane Henchoz's work. Out on his right, the Switzerland defender had merely to head the ball out for a throw-in, but chose instead to keep it in play by sending it straight to Miller.
The Hearts striker saw Burchill on the run through the inside-left channel and sent a pass straight to his left foot. The former Celtic striker's finish was the epitome of composure, drilling the shot low to the left of the unprotected Marshall from just inside the area.
The general discomfort of Henchoz and Celtic's need of recovery in attack prompted Martin O'Neill to remove the defender, bringing on forward Ross Wallace and changing from 3-5-2 to 4-4-2 by putting Jackie McNamara to right-back and using Alan Thompson virtually as a left-back.
Wallace should have halved the deficit in first-half stoppage time, but, having been played in on the left by Craig Bellamy, he seemed to lack conviction and pulled a drive wide of goal. It was Celtic's only genuine opening of the entire half.
The home team found it just as difficult to create space behind the solid and diligent Hearts defenders for most of the second period, too, with the maroon shirts swarming and timing tackles and interceptions to perfection. It was not until Thompson moved forward to receive a return pass from Wallace that alarm infiltrated the visiting team. Thompson's low cross to John Hartson brought a flick from the Wales striker that would have hit the roof of the net but for Gordon's excellent save.
However, in a repeat of the opportunity Wallace had enjoyed for the home team, Kizys should have given Hearts a third goal. Pulling away from the lumbering Stanislav Varga on the left, the Lithuanian repeated Wallace's mistake, rushing a shot wide of the far post. By then, Hearts had been forced to replace the limping Burchill with Calum Elliot.
None of the changes made any appreciable difference to the pattern of the match. Hearts played with the assurance of men who knew that only a series of freakish accidents could deny them a day of glory that was theirs by right.