FIVE hundred and 85 days since their last defeat, 197 goals for, 60 wins, 69 games unbeaten. These are the statistics which have hoisted this Celtic team into the realm of legend, a group of ‘invincibles’ who traversed the country plundering points wherever they went. Until now.

Brendan Rodgers sampled his first domestic defeat yesterday, to bring to an end a run that has yielded a treble and this season’s Betfred Cup. During the run, which stands as a British record, the Northern Irishman regularly spoke about him being comfortable that it would one day come to an end. Even to a side which is peerless in Scotland, Rodgers knew it was always going to be when, and not if, his team’s defence would be breached without a sufficient reply. However, he will have been acutely uncomfortable with the manner in which this run was brought to a screeching halt.

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Many thought Motherwell would be the ones to do it last month over a frantic three-game spell. Instead the best they could muster was a draw. Hibernian at Easter Road? They came agonisingly close, but in the end a 2-2 draw was all Neil Lennon’s men could muster.

Instead, it was left to their city rivals to inflict Celtic’s first defeat since May 2016 and they did it in some style. It was Hearts’ biggest win over Celtic since 1895. And they deserved it. A Hearts team with seven changes and bolstered by a handful of kids both in the starting line-up and on the bench never looked back from the moment 16-year-old Harry Cochrane put them into a lead on 27 minutes and almost blew the roof off the new main stand.

A fine strike from Kyle Laffterty made it two before the break and David Milinkovic put the result beyond any doubt three minutes after the restart. By the time the French-Serbian attacker made it four from the spot, a handful of the travelling support had seen enough.

Celtic have pulled off the impossible previously to keep this run going. They’ve come from behind several times including away to Rangers and St Johnstone, while at Fir Park they recorded a 4-3 win after also being down 2-0 at the interval. There was no chance of Hearts giving them that chance here, though, and they stretched their own unbeaten run to six games in the process.

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The hosts were tenacious, aggressive – at times a bit too much – but most important clinical in front of goal when opportunities came their way. At the other end, you got the impression Celtic could still be out there this morning and Jon McLaughlin would have his clean sheet intact. Leigh Griffiths looks rusty, perhaps justifiably so considering this was his first start in December, Scott Sinclair continued to look out of sorts while when the half-time cavalry arrived, in the shape of Moussa Dembele and Odsonne Edouard, it was too late to save Celtic.

However, to draw heavy attention to the deficiencies of the visitors would do a disservice to their ruthless hosts, and it was all kicked off by Cochrane.

His coming of age came from a typical Hearts build up. Celtic attempted to play the ball out from the back with Dedryck Boyata passing to Kieran Tierney. The left-back slipped but the high press from Hearts soon saw possession recovered by Don Cowie. He fed Cochrane at the edge of the area and, despite a bump in the turf, the teenager sent a low shot scudding under Craig Gordon at his left post.

It was a solid start, but it was to get better for Hearts. Lafferty went close moments later but he was to get his goal on 35 minutes. A slip from Callum McGregor in the Hearts half saw Milinkovic pounce once again and drive forward. Drawing two defenders as he burst into the Celtic half, his ball out right was perfect for Lafferty who held his run, took a few strides and then fired an inch-perfect daisy-cutter across Gordon and in off the far post from 25 yards with seemingly nothing to aim at.

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All Celtic could come up with in the first half was a couple of mis-hits from Griffiths and one into the side netting, so it was inevitable changes would be made by Rodgers as Dembele and Stuart Armstrong were called for at the break. Olivier Ntcham and a battered and bruised Kieran Tierney made way.

Before the pair had a chance to do anything, it was game over just three minutes later in calamitous fashion. A long ball up the park from Connor Randall looked to be under control by Jozo Simunovic only for a slip on the edge of the area allowing the terrific Milinkovic in. He calmly side-stepped Gordon, picked his spot and slotted by Mikael Lustig on the line.

There was no hint of any buses being parked by Levein as 16-year-old midfielder Anthony McDonald was introduced in time to see his team grab an emphatic fourth. Ross Callachan raced in on Craig Gordon but an initial touch looked heavy to take him away to goal, but only the Celtic keeper will know why he needed to dive at his feet and bringing him down to the patchy turf. Referee Willie Collum showed no hesitation, and neither did Milinkovic who blasted high to Gordon’s left.

Perhaps it’s a sign of Celtic’s dominance and resilience that Hearts fans could only then begin to celebrate. The visiting support responded with songs about 10-in-a-row, Rodgers himself later leading a huddle at full-time in front of rapturous applause from those in the Roseburn Stand. They will enjoy plenty more days if they do reach that title target, but this one unequivocally belonged to Hearts.