Hearts climbed off their sick beds to deliver a potentially fatal blow to Aberdeen's Ladbrokes Premiership title hopes as Juanma Delgado's double earned the hosts a 2-1 victory at Tynecastle.
Hearts shut their training ground for two days after getting Tuesday's trip Inverness postponed following an outbreak of gastroenteritis and they looked set to suffer more pain when Simon Church netted inside three minutes during a dominant opening from the visitors.
But Juanma twice scored from close range to give Celtic the chance to move eight points clear when they face Motherwell at Fir Park on Saturday.
Aberdeen also saw captain Ryan Jack carried off on a stretcher and they could find themselves closer to third place than top spot on Tuesday when Hearts finally meet Inverness.
Hearts midfielder Sam Nicholson came close when his left-footed shot trundled just wide but Aberdeen soon hit their hosts with a flurry of chances.
Church converted the first, getting in front of Neil Alexander and forcing the ball home as the goalkeeper waited on Graeme Shinnie's cross reaching his arms.
Niall McGinn then stabbed Kenny McLean's cross wide from six yards before seeing his shot blocked by Alexander after an Alim Ozturk error.
Hearts survived another scare when Igor Rossi completely sliced a clearance from Jonny Hayes' corner towards his own goal, the ball falling kindly for Alexander.
Shay Logan and Craig Storie threatened after set-pieces, either side of a Hearts chance which saw Scott Brown produce a good one-handed stop from Blazej Augustyn's header.
All that action came inside the first 15 minutes but Hearts, who had everyone back from illness, began to push the Dons back.
The visitors failed to heed a warning after Ozturk's free-kick was tipped over by Brown as they gave the defender time to line up a shot from almost 40 yards in the 32nd minute.
The shot swerved and dipped but Brown failed to push it to safety and Juanma was the only player to follow up, slotting home before checking there was no offside flag.
The Spaniard, who had only scored once since November, soon shot over the near post after Nicholson's cross before Jack came off worse in a 50-50 with Prince Buaben.
The break failed to halt Hearts' momentum. Rossi fired a 20-yard strike off the outside of the post and Logan and Brown combined to stop Buaben netting from close range following good work from Juanma, although the hosts claimed the right-back had used a hand.
McGinn headed wide but Hearts continued to look more dangerous and they profited from a ball over the top on the hour mark as Jamie Walker got the better of Mark Reynolds on the left wing and whipped in a cross which Juanma nodded home from inside the six-yard box.
Walker soon missed a good chance before he and Arnaud Djoum forced saves from Brown.
Church flashed a shot wide of the near post but Aberdeen failed to sustain a comeback.
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