The full-time whistle blew at Tynecastle but the celebrations were muted, and eyes remained elsewhere. On a delirious, dizzying evening where Hearts felt their grip on a first title since 1960 tighten, this instead became the night where the league was pulled further from their reach.
In some places in the Gorgie Road End, the same message that has accompanied this extraordinary season remained: “One more to go, believe!” But their defiance no longer felt as emphatic. On the pitch, players gathered around phones. In the stands, supporters huddled together and waited for the news. Together, they watched as Celtic scored a late, controversial penalty to beat Motherwell and take the title race down to a final-day showdown at Parkhead. It was a bitter blow to take.
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For Hearts, the task remains the same as was expected before tonight: Derek McInnes and his players will need to go to Celtic on Saturday and avoid defeat to the champions of 13 of the last 14 years on the final day of the season. But the sense of Celtic’s inevitability feels greater now after Kelechi Iheanacho’s 99th-minute penalty, awarded by VAR for a handball in the Motherwell area. The evidence that the ball struck the hand of the Motherwell defender Sam Nicholson when he headed away a long throw in stoppage time appeared to be inconclusive, to say the least.
“It’s disgusting, it is,” McInnes said. The Hearts manager saw his side denied a penalty in their 1-1 draw against Motherwell last week when winger Alexandros Kyziridis was tripped in the box. McInnes said he had spoken to the Scottish Football Association’s head of referees Willie Collum this week, who was “in agreement” that Hearts should have had a penalty. This was another decision that went against his team. “We’re up against it,” said McInnes, who could not hide his deflation. “It feels like us against everybody.”
But Celtic are up for the fight and their 3-2 comeback at Fir Park keeps the title in their hands as well. Any victory for Celtic would do on Saturday. Amid controversy and high drama, it remains as you were and an epic showdown awaits with history on the line, perhaps the biggest club game Scottish football has produced in a generation. It is, to be frank, exactly what those in charge of the Scottish Premiership had in mind when they drew up their post-split fixtures. “It’s perfect for Scottish football,” McInnes said. “The drama, the excitement, the spotlight, it couldn’t be billed any better.”
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The question, though, is how Hearts manage to pick themselves up from the emotional rollercoaster of Wednesday night and prepare for bringing down what is beginning to turn into a relentless march to the title from Celtic, who have now won six games in a row, and in these circumstances.
It was a strange night. Hearts did not start well but when goals from Frankie Kent and Cammy Devlin put the hosts in charge while Celtic trailed Motherwell, Tynecastle’s steep sides shook and tears were forming in the eyes of old men who thought they would never see the day. Hearts, at that point, were on course to be champions.
The crucial development of Celtic’s equaliser at Motherwell, with Daizen Maeda continuing his scoring streak to pull O’Neill’s side level before half time, did not reverberate around Tynecastle as emphatically. When Benjamin Nygren then fired in for 20 yards to put Celtic ahead on the night shortly after the restart, it made it as you were again.
Heart of Midlothian fans looking at a phone as they react to the Motherwell v Celtic match (Reuters)
Celtic’s Kelechi Iheanacho 99th-minute goal sparked wild scenes (PA)
It also broke the spell that had transfixed Tynecastle. As the second half progressed, the night felt increasingly in limbo. Events at Fir Park remained impossible to look away from. Then, in the 85th minute, a thunderous, barreling sound rippled around Tynecastle that could only signal one thing: a Motherwell equaliser, as Liam Gordon scrambled in.
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It was advantage Hearts as Celtic drawing also brought another scenario into play. It would have allowed Hearts to go into the final day with a three-point lead, plus a much better goal difference, leaving Celtic requiring a six or seven goal victory to overhaul the leaders. As Hearts realised this and Blair Spittal fired in a third, it carried the greater significance of giving Celtic another to chase.
Hearts had plenty to celebrate as they waited for a result at full-time: an 80-point season, an unbeaten home campaign. But no one paid any attention to the players as they embarked on a distracted lap of honour. Instead, captain Lawrence Shankland and goalscorer Devlin looked up to the main stand for a signal. Claudio Braga stood over a screen, refreshing the score from Motherwell. And what they saw underlined the size of the task facing Hearts if they are to break the Old Firm’s dominance of Scottish football for the first time in 41 years.
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