A prayer for the trying

NO victory is ever liable to com-promise John Barnes' conceit, but even a man with his reservoir of self-belief must have struggled to make sense of Celtic's win at Tynecastle yesterday. The result could barely have been more timely - defeat would have been Celtic's fifth in seven games - but it was secured only by an isolated moment of quality at the death of a match characterised by animosity rather than art.

Hearts, who played the closing 32 minutes with 10 men after Colin Cameron was sent off, invested a huge effort into the match, harrying and hounding Celtic and capitalising on the defensive uncertainty that abounds in Barnes' team. They were entitled to victory at best and a draw at the very least, but left with nothing when Ian Wright and Lubo Moravcik rescued Barnes with two goals in the final 19 minutes after Cameron had given his side an early lead. Had they lost, Celtic would have been seven points behind Rangers, who have a game in hand, and Barnes would have been yet another manager facing a public revolt.

Wright's goal came when he seemed to be shaping up for a square pass, but instead fashioned the equaliser with a 25-yard shot which deflected off Gary Naysmith. With Hearts by then struggling to cope with Celtic's numerical advantage, Jim Jefferies' side finally succumbed to an outstanding right-foot shot from Moravcik with 90 minutes on the clock. The Slovak has raised doubts over his commitment to the club beyond his current contract, which runs out at the end of this season. He has so far refused an extension, but the value of his searing drive which whistled to Gilles Rousset's left could not be counted in pounds sterling.

Celtic, though, convinced no one. They seemed unnerved by the onslaught they faced from Hearts, and bedevilled by the scrutiny which remains on their 4-2-2-2 system. It took a more orthodox shape yesterday, with Moravcik dropping deeper than Eyal Berkovic, but the overall effect was hardly more effective. Defensively they were ragged in the first half and unable to cope with the movement and invention of Cameron in particular. In attack, it was Mark Burchill, not Moravcik, who showed his age as the teenager twice squandered one- on-one chances against Rousset by firing his shot at the goalkeeper.

"I was pleased with the result, but not the performance," said Barnes. "It wasn't a par-ticularly good performance, especially in the first half, but Celtic teams in the past have come here and not won." The coach deflected further questions about Craig Burley's future without satisfactorily illuminating whether the midfielder has a Celtic future or not, but these days difficulties seem to be postponed rather than removed at Parkhead.

When its stands are packed and bristling Tynecastle is no place to expect a tranquil Saturday afternoon. It can even restore faith in the vitality of the Scottish game outwith the Old Firm and, after an immediate fright, the resistance from the three stands full of Hearts fans translated into their team's performance.

The capital side's early play had a vigour and pace which left Celtic barely able to draw breath, let alone introduce composure to their play, until almost 20 minutes of the game had elapsed. They scored after only 180 seconds with a rapier move down the left side of Celtic's defence, where Stephane Mahe, back after injury, was caught out of position. Steve Fulton struck a ball to Gary McSwegan who fired over a cross which Colin Cameron put into the net after stealing into the six-yard box.

Hearts' midfield had an impressive balance, with Scott Severin and Rab McKinnon, making his first league start of the season, providing the muscle either side of Fulton's finesse and Cameron's dynamism. Defeat extended their run to five without a win, however, and they face three consecutive away games where their inspiration cannot come from the fans who galvanised them yesterday.

Celtic might have scored in just 38 seconds when Gary Naysmith was short with a back pass which sent Burchill haring in on Rousset. The goalkeeper did well to block the chance, but even allowing for an early blurring of his sights, the young Celt ought to have buried it.

Celtic made four changes from the team beaten in their previous game at Ibrox, although Olivier Tebily, Paul Lambert, Craig Burley and Mark Viduka were all ruled out by sick notes rather than their manager's whim Fate favoured Jonathan Gould. The 'keeper was culpable for goals conceded to Lyon and Rangers and was to be dropped for Dmitri Kharine until the Russian was ruled out suffering from gall stones. Gould justified his reprieve with a save just before half- time, diving full-length to his right to touch a Thomas Flgel shot on to the post and wide after Cameron had again exposed Celtic with another pass into space behind Mahe.

Had Hearts gone two ahead it was reasonable to suspect Celtic would have crumbled under a ferocious onslaught. Instead, the turning point was Cameron's red card. His skirmish with Johan Mjllby seemed little more offensive than anything else going on in the game, where petty spats flared up and ugly tackles flew in, but television pictures showed he did use his arm to fend off the Swede and the law is unequivocal. Jefferies asserted it had been "nothing worse than what had been going on", which was accurate, but of no credit to his team's, or Celtic's, behaviour.

"We did well with 10 men and it was a travesty to lose the late goal," he went on. "We played with a lot of passion and fire. It was a hard, competitive match with tackles flying about, but we showed we were not going to sit back and play second fiddle."

Referee McCurry was too fussy, but the game degenerated into combat towards its conclusion and other than Cameron a yellow card was flashed seven times. After the rich diet on offer at Hampden and Wembley, yesterday provided a menu containing only raw red meat.

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