Celtic 2-2 Hearts

Last updated : 03 April 2004 By Kevin Smith
Celtic's home record of what is now 76 unbeaten matches is intact today, as The Hoops came from 2-0 down to resue a late point at Celtic Park, against Hearts today.

Celtic showed tremendous fighting spirit and self-belief to grab two goals in the last five minutes of the game. Chris Sutton and Didier Agathe were Celtic's goalscorers.

Neil Lennon and Stan Petrov were rested, in came young Stephen McManus - making his Celtic Park debut - and club Captain Paul Lambert.

Hearts started brightly, and could have been a goal up in the first minute, as they attacked Celtic from the first whistle.

There was certainly a tired and lazy look about Celtic, many players looked to have an eye or two on Villarreal and several players' priority seemed to avoid injury for that game.

Hearts took a deserved lead after 21 minutes, when, after Varga blocked Hartley's shot, the ball fell to the feet of Kevin McKenna. He made no mistake in slotting the ball past David Marshall.

The goal got the atmosphere going around the ground, and woke up some Celtic fans who feel the need to have lost a goal to get up for the game.

Celtic pressed for a first half equaliser, but Hearts shut up shop and defended well. In truth, Craig Gordon hardly had a save to make in the whole first period.

David Marshall made a decent save from a Kevin McKenna effort, close to half time, but it was 1-0 Hearts at the interval.

Celtic's second half display resembled that of the first. Celtic attacked and Hearts tried to pick us off on the counter attack. Marshall made another good stop from Janczyk on 50 minutes.

Bobo Balde missed a great opportunity to equalise; his free header in the Hearts area went over the bar.

Mark De Vries came on as a Hearts substitute, and it was he who scored the Jambos' second goal. Once again, it was poor defending in the Celtic back line, Bob Balde made the mistake and De Vries stuck the ball home. The Hearts fans thought they were heading towards a dramatic Parkhead victory, but soon found out you can never write off this Celtic side.

Stan Petrov and Liam Miller replaced McManus and Pearson. There were some boos by a minority of the Celtic support as Miller came onto the field, they were soon drowned out by the cheering from the real supporters.

Speaking of real supporters, it is times like this when your team needs you. Two goals down with ten minutes to go and you have guys leaving the ground. They should not come back as they are not welcome - they are a disgrace to the club, and I know of 3 year-olds who could support Celtic better than you do. These people should take a look at themselves before coming back to Celtic Park.

It was Liam Miller who set up Celtic's first. He ran at the Hearts defence, before playing a nice ball into the path of Chris Sutton. Sutton's original attempt was saved by Gordon, but the rebound was smashed home to give Celtic some hope.

Mark De Vries should have finished the game a minute later, he missed a sitter from about two yards out, as the fourth official showed that there was to be four minutes of added time. This spurred the Celtic fans on, and you just knew a goal was coming.

Paul Lambert was attacking Hearts, and his pass set up the equaliser. Stan Varga missed the ball, but Didier Agathe was there to hit the ball into the roof of the net. Celtic Park went wild, I, myself thought there was time for another, but it wasn't to be. The game ended 2-2 and Celtic's home record stays put.

Today, many players were looking ahead to Thursday night. Neil Lennon and Stan Petrov will be back and we will be much more hungry for the win. A draw was a great result today - under the circumstances.

Celtic:
Marshall - 8
Varga - 8
Balde - 7
McNamara - 9
McManus - 6 (Petrov - 6)
Lambert - 7
Pearson - 6 (Miller - 8)
Agathe - 7
Thompson - 6
Larsson - 6
Sutton - 7

Celtic-Mad Man of the Match: Jackie McNamara

Celtic-Mad Moment to Remember: Agathe's late equaliser.

Celtic-Mad Moment to Forget: The Celtic 'fans' who left with ten minutes to go. A complete joke.

The new Celtic surface.
The Celtic fans enter the ground.