Frozen assets fail to fan the flames

THERMOMETERS barely rose above freezing at Tynecastle, but more than the temperature was numbing. Celtic had a high price to pay for the victory which maintained their seven-point lead in the championship and established a new club record of 10 consecutive wins in the SPL.

Didier Agathe limped out of the stadium on crutches with suspected knee ligament damage. Martin O'Neill, his manager, said he "did not have a prayer" of playing against Valencia in the Uefa Cup on Thursday.

Agathe was hurt towards the end of the first half in a clumsy tackle by Andy Webster. It resulted in a penalty from which Henrik Larsson scored, but soon Agathe's knee was badly swollen. "It looks bad," O'Neill went on to say.

"Didier has been terrific for us since he came to the club. Because of where we are now he will be very difficult to replace." O'Neill, who may fly to watch Valencia today, will know tomorrow whether Joos Valgaeren can return for the tie or for Sunday's Old Firm game.

For Hearts it was inconceivable that anyone other than Larsson would score. He has now found the net 15 times against them since joining Celtic from Feyenoord. They will be glad to see the back of him in Edinburgh.

There have been endless bank statements to prove that Hearts are hard up, but at the end of a fast, furious match last night they also felt hard done by.

"It's difficult to find words to express how disappointed I am," said manager Craig Levein. "Not for myself, but for the players who put so much effort into the 90 minutes.

"When you are against the best team in the league and come away feeling an injustice you then have to be positive and try to take something from that."

Hearts frustrated Celtic for much of an afternoon in which the champions barely registered a goalscoring chance other than Larsson's penalty. Webster, 19, and Kevin McKenna, 21, dealt admirably with him and Chris Sutton, although Stephen Pressley was Levein's outstanding defender.

It was the fourth time in their last five matches that Celtic had won an SPL match by a single goal. O'Neill would happily keep grinding out victories until May, but their play has lacked sparkle since the Champions League campaign fizzled out.

O'Neill's back line had Bobo Balde in the centre and Stephen Crainey to his left. The pair were the only two of the starting 11 which bludgeoned Stirling Albion to retain their places.

The manager had made 10 changes to give his fringe men a run-out in the CIS Cup tie, and there were nine more alterations to restore the heavy artillery yesterday.

Most of the side had benefited from almost a fortnight's rest. They would have appreciated the breather to replenish energy levels before what is always a physically draining fixture. O'Neill had won every one of his seven previous matches against Hearts - and had seen Celtic score 12 times at Tynecastle alone last season - but his players have often had to slug it out before securing their supremacy.

Yesterday Stilian Petrov was sent spinning by a thunderous, but fair, Pressley challenge, long before Agathe limped out of the game at half time. When Hearts go down, they go down fighting.

Ricardo Fuller squandered an early chance for Hearts by failing to properly connect when put through by Stephen Simmons, but he had an impressive match.

The 21-year-old's slippery play and mesmerising footwork, mesmerising himself at times, added unpredictability to Hearts' attacks. Balde was more confused than most.

At one point Fuller had the ball at his feet in the corner and Balde behind him, with the Celtic defender's head bizarrely buried in the small of his back. On another occasion he robbed Balde when the Frenchman was the last defender, but he started more moves than he could finish.

When he pounced on a Simmons knock down from Steve Fulton's free- kick he lashed a shot high over when he was close enough to see the whites of Rab Douglas' eyes.

Hearts' best chance came when Alan Maybury floated a ball into the area which McKenna re-directed towards goal, where Douglas leapt to touch it over.

Neither manager could criticise his players' work-rate. Because the Hearts midfielders were prepared to pull deep to support their defence Celtic found themselves up against a blanket of maroon shirts. They tried flick-ons and one-twos to play themselves in, including one from Sutton which released Larsson until Pressley tackled him to concede a corner, but it was frustrating.

The penalty brought the breakthrough. Paul Lambert passed to Agathe wide on the right and although Stephane Mahe was tenacious in marking him, Agathe, with the ball bouncing high, got away and made an angled run into the penalty area which came to an abrupt end when Webster raced out to bring him down. Larsson, unpredictable from the penalty spot this season, sent Antti Niemi the wrong way. The Swede was otherwise well marshalled, although he did float a first-half header into Niemi's arms.

There were echoes of George Best and Gordon Banks when Stephane Adam was penalised for lifting a boot to block Douglas as the goalkeeper attempted to kick the ball from hand.

Mike McCurry, the referee, had not appeared to see the incident, but stopped play in any case. It was tough on the Frenchman, who made no contact with Douglas.

Celtic almost scored a second, but Niemi dived well to hold a Johan Mjallby shot, and the lift they received from that propelled Hearts into a closing rally. They came closest to an equaliser when Fuller rose to head a Fulton corner which Bobby Petta stuck out a boot to clear off the line. Fuller, in one final chance, set off on a thrilling run which took out Balde and Neil Lennon before firing a low shot which Douglas held.

"He's a bag of tricks," said Levein. "Sometimes he does things with the ball that are magnificent, other times he gives it away when you'd expect a wee lassie to keep hold of it."

Celtic, though, kept their grip of the points.

Copyright 2001
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