Celtic 5 Heart of Midlothian 0
Ladbrokes Premiership, Saturday 3rd November 2018 – Celtic Park
Hearts succumbed to a second heavy defeat in six days to league champions Celtic after the current league leaders were demolished 5-0 on an afternoon to forget for the Maroons at Celtic Park.
Two first half goals from Edouard added to an effort from Benkovic saw the home side three goals ahead at half-time. Further strikes from Forrest and Christie in the second half completed the rout.
Hearts manager Craig Levein made four changes from the bruising midweek encounter with Hibernian. Steven MacLean, Harry Cochrane and Demetri Mitchell came back into the side while there was a surprise recall for Jake Mulraney. Callumn Morrison, Olly Lee, Oliver Bozanic and Ben Garrucio sat out proceedings.
However, the changes had little impact as Celtic dominated the game from start to finish with Hearts having just one shot on target all afternoon when Garrucio hit the crossbar.
Craig Levein was honest enough to admit afterwards that he was to blame for yet another horror show in the east end of Glasgow. He told the press:
“The manager’s an idiot. I made a decision that with all the high-profile matches we’ve had, I thought the energy levels would begin to wane. I made the decision to sit in and try and frustrate Celtic and hit them on the counter-attack, but I got that one wrong.”
A miserable afternoon for Hearts who, nevertheless, remain top of the Ladbrokes Premiership.
Celtic: Gordon, Sinclair (Moragn, 79′), Christie, Rogic, Boyata, Edouard (Johnston, 72′), Lustig (Ajer, 58′), Benkovic, McGregor, Forrest, Tierney.
Hearts: Zlamal, Smith, Dunne, Haring, Clare (Morrison, 72′), Djoum, Mitchell (Garuccio, 46′), MacLean, Cochrane, Mulraney (Wighton, 82′), Dikamona.
Referee: John Beaton
Attendance: 58,831
Top people: Those Hearts supporters who headed through to Glasgow more in hope than expectation. I doff my cap to you (well, I would if I had one)
Author of The Team for Me - 50 Years of Following Hearts. Runs Mind Generating Success, a successful therapy practice in Edinburgh. Contact me if you want rid of any unwanted habits. Twitter @Mike1874
