WHATEVER fire Hearts bring to a fixture at Tynecastle, Celtic have figured out how to extinguish it.
In their last five trips to Gorgie Celtic have scored 20 goals and conceded one. They have turned what should be one of their most daunting trips into a regular procession.
Hearts were well beaten and angry, blaming Willie Collum for two big decisions. Morgaro Gomis got his marching orders after eight minutes for a crunching tackle on Scott Brown. In fact, Gomis deserved a red card. That was a pivotal moment which took the sting out of Hearts after a bright opening, and there was another flashpoint when Celtic got a penalty after John Guidetti appeared to slip in the box as Brad McKay went to challenge him. It did not look a foul, a dive, or a penalty.
Two goals from Virgil van Dijk and others from Guidetti and Anthony Stokes reflected an underlying gulf in class, though. Hearts remain unbeaten in the SPFL Championship and will easily shrug this off to focus again on all that really matters to them: promotion. Celtic go into 2015 fighting on four fronts. They will be unconcerned about who they get in this afternoon's fifth-round draw because they are playing like a team which can cope with any domestic opponent, home or away. They are a whole league above Hearts and it showed in their ruthless exploitation of the early sending-off.
Tynecastle has been crammed for most of their Championship games and it was disappointing that there were a few thousand empty seats in the home stands. Celtic won 7-0 here in the cup last December and that score or something worse was flashing through the minds of the Hearts support by the time it was 4-0 with half an hour left. In all likelihood Celtic were always going to win this, without being offered any helping hand. Hearts missed a penalty and another great chance when they lost in the League Cup at Parkhead earlier this season but, in truth, Celtic had always looked pretty comfortable in that 3-0 romp. It was fanciful to think they would suffer any trouble once Gomis was sent off with 82 minutes to go. Hearts were again without Danny Wilson and Osman Sow and they simply did not have the players, or enough of the ball, to prevent the day being a prolonged exercise in damage limitation. James Keatings' shot right at the start was their only threat until Robbie Buchanan rifled a shot wide on a late counterattack.
Tynecastle did not believe that Gomis had done much wrong. To the naked eye his challenge on Brown in midfield was robust and full-blooded, no more. It is a supporters' instinct to seek reinforcement of their views and many will have sought television evidence for confirmation of an injustice. Instead, they will have seen that Gomis lunged in with both feet off the ground. Even if he had been irritated by some attention from Brown and Stefan Johansen moments before, the rush of blood to the head was unpardonable. Hearts had slowly taken control when Rangers went down to 10 men early in last week's game; this time they were the team depleted and in trouble. Eventually, the inevitable unfolded and Celtic accelerated away to a comfortable win.
What a sweet finish Van Dijk produced for the opener. He had got his head to Johansen's corner and when Stokes' mis-hit shot flew back across the box he connected with a lovely finish, finding a gap between bodies to plant the ball in the corner. His second goal, when the game was already won, was a powerful header from a Johansen cross. Van Dijk is not the force he should be in the opposition's box but he connected wonderfully to score this one. When his agent is next updating Van Dijk's highlights reel he can include the goals and omit the comical miss when he fluffed an open goal from a Stokes delivery.
Collum got it in the neck, naturally. The home stands gave him awful stick, howling for that red card for fouls by Brown, Izaguirre, Efe Ambrose and Brown again. The closest he came was a yellow for Adam Matthews. In fact, as soon as Celtic scored the first a veil went over the game. There was a sense that Hearts appreciated there was no way back from a man and a goal down against an already superior set of players.
Celtic simply ran over the top of Hearts. Assistant referee Graham Chambers told Collum that McKay had caught Guidetti's leg as he turned. There was a brief flare-up before order was restored and Guidetti thumped home the penalty. His momentum continues: 11 goals in 11 starts. Another goal came rushing after it when Stokes worked an opening on the edge of the box and drilled a low shot back across Neil Alexander into the net. From the Roseburn Stand the Celtic support gave it "oles" as their team wove passing patterns. They were revelling in it. The players too. At full-time, as he headed towards the tunnel, Brown whistled and moved his head along to the lyrics of The Hearts Song. He was beaming like a Cheshire cat.
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