As Ange Postecoglou sloped across the pitch to shake referee Bobby Madden’s hand at full time after this most deflating of defeats, he would have witnessed the Hearts players to a man bearhug Craig Gordon, the former Celtic goalkeeper, following his incredible double save in injury time which denied his former club a point. Gordon is a telling symbol of Celtic’s accelerated downgrading of quality.
This desperately fragile Celtic team came back from the worst possible start — Gary Mackay-Steven netted after eight minutes — to look as if they could and should go on to win it after the much-criticised Anthony Ralston had scored a fine equaliser.
Postecoglou prioritised the fitness levels of his squad on his arrival from Japan, is known to demand a pressing game and wants his players to leave nothing on the park. So it must have been extremely alarming to see his side noticeably weaken and wilt just when they had Hearts on the ropes.
Their physicality and their belief drained with every passing minute of this encounter which encouraged their hosts and there was a certain sense of inevitability when John Souttar popped up with a soaring header to score a late winner.
The very same thing happened in their extra-time defeat in Denmark last week by Midtjylland where another former player, Erik Sviatchenko, astutely pointed out his old team had “completely gone” in the additional period. For a team supposed to pride itself on fitness levels, why are they found so clearly wanting in that department?
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Of course, that is just one of Celtic’s many problems just now.
A debut was handed to the understandably rusty Carl Starfelt, while new Japan international Kyogo Furuhashi could have been forgiven asking what he had blundered into when he came on as a late substitute and almost immediately lost possession.
But when you can’t trust your goalkeeper — and present incumbent Scott Bain looked none too clever when he did the hokey-cokey for the free kick before Souttar’s header soared over him — then you are in huge trouble before a ball is kicked.
The sight of Gordon making a huge, instinctive stop with his shoulder to keep out James Forrest followed by another fine diving stop to prevent Starfelt from scoring with a header both in injury time must have been galling for Celtic fans, who have watched a once-lauded team go from unbeatable legends to inept, floundering, soft touches.
For Hearts, it was a crowing return to the Premiership. The Championship winners raised the flag and immediately set out a marker that they will in the top flight to compete.
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At a raucous Tynecastle they did themselves proud and won plenty a few quid too. Hearts were backed in at the bookies from 5-1 to 3-1 before kick off by shrewd punters. And it was fitting that Souttar netted the winning goal given the hellish time he has had though a series of serious injuries.
Gordon said: “I have to give John Souttar enormous credit in the lead-up to that goal. He chased back and made an unbelievable tackle, he then makes a header from the ground to stop a counter-attack and wins a foul. Then he goes up there and sticks his head on it and scores the winner.
“That epitomised the fight that was in the squad to make sure we got off to a good start. We knew if we could go out there and fight as hard as we could the fans would get behind us and respect the fact we were giving everything. We did that and we were lucky enough to come away with the win.
“It’s huge for John and the amount of times he’s had to come back and show that character time and time again. And then perform at that level. It’s not just to perform at that level, he’s made such a difference to the team. He’s done so well for us. Last week, his ankle blew up after the Stirling game and he got a bad knock and he’s fought back from that.
“He got through the 90 minutes as one of our best centre backs. He has shown great resilience throughout and I was so pleased that he set the move up for his goal. There were so many things that were down to him for that winning goal. It was just brilliant.”
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Heart of Midlothian (3-4-3): C Gordon 7 — J Souttar 7, C Halkett 6, S Kingsley 7 — M Smith 6, B Beningime 8, A Halliday 5, A Cochrane 7 — J Ginnelly 7 (A Gnanduillet 77min), L Boyce 6, G Mackay-Steven 6 (P Haring 68, 3).
Celtic (4-2-3-1): S Bain 6 — A Ralston 6, N Bitton 6, C Starfelt 5, G Taylor 5 — I Soro 7 (T Rogic 90), C McGregor 7 — L Abada 6 (K Furuhashi 79), D Turnbull 5 (R Christie 79), J Forrest 6 — O Édouard 6.
Referee B Madden. Attendance 5,272.
