Kai Watson: Hearts Falter in the Title Race
As of Sunday evening, Heart of Midlothian still sit atop of the Scottish Premiership with six games to go, something Derek McInnes was keen to point out in his post-match press conference. He’s right though, they are top and no one can say that they don’t deserve to be, they will be very disappointed in how the match transpired against Livingston but they managed to keep their place and stay ahead of Rangers, albeit just by one point now.
One thing that will concern the Hearts manager though is the away form, Hearts haven’t won away from Tynecastle since the 31st of January and although that’s only four matches, it’s three losses and a draw;
St. Mirren 1-0 Hearts
Rangers 4-2 Hearts
Kilmarnock 1-0 Hearts
Livingston 2-2 Hearts
Their four home wins since then have also all been 1-0 victories against Hibs, Falkirk, Aberdeen and Dundee. Poor away form and the inability to convincingly beat teams at home must be a concern to Hearts fans but, as mentioned at the beginning of the article, all that matters is that they are still top.
On Sunday they went 1-0 down early to a brilliant Stevie May finish from the edge of the box, the ball had been bouncing around before it fell to his feet and he drilled a low shot across goal. Hearts weren’t down for long though as Lawrence Shankland powered in a header from a good cross from Marc Leonard. Shankland was excellent the whole game with his link up and ability to get into good goal scoring positions.
It was 1-1 at half-time but just six minutes into the second half Shankland turned provider as he headed back across for Claudio Braga who rose above Finlayson to score another brilliant header. That lead would only last seven minutes though as after some good work down Livingston’s left, a cut back eventually fell to Lewis Smith at the backpost who turned the ball in via Schwolow.
There would be no more goals but as Robbie Muirhead looked to breakaway in injury time he was cynically pulled back by Leonard, who’s original yellow card was eventually upgraded to red after a VAR intervention.
On Saturday, Rangers had a somewhat comfortable 4-2 victory over Dundee United to take them top of the league for the first time this season and in two years! Danny Rohl’s side created seven ‘big chances’ and had an xG of 3.89, much better in terms of chance creation but still a lot of work to do in terms of actually finishing games/teams off.
Celtic travelled to Dens Park after Hearts drew against Livingston. This was a chance for them to close the gap at the top and keep pressure on Rangers and it only took eight minutes to settle fans' nerves. Does anyone actually know if it’s Yang or Nygren’s goal? Celtic fans weren’t caring when that went in but it looks like the goal has been awarded to Yang with Nygren getting one of the weirder ‘assists’ you will ever see!
Martin O'Neill's team dominated the first half and if Cvancara had a better touch/more composure they could have gone into half-time more than 1-0 up. They were regretting their lack of quality in the final third when a handball was given against Colby Donovan and Simon Murray equalised from the spot in the 57th minute.
Celtic plugged away in their usual style and their changes from the bench made the difference, as they often do. Kelechi Iheanacho was the sharpest man in the box when he dashed to the front post to control Sarrachi’s cross and fire it into the goal.
Dundee claimed for a foul but none of the refereeing team saw enough in it and that was enough to win Celtic the game and take them back to two points behind Rangers and now just three behind Hearts.
Here’s who the table stands after gameweek 32;
Hearts - 67
Rangers - 66
Celtic - 64
Three points in it with six games to go and just one left before the split. It’s the most intense title race in years and 100% what Scottish football has needed!
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