HEARTS made it a perfect five and ended Celtic’s three-hour tenure at the top of the Premiership with a clinical dismantling of Partick Thistle in front of a full house at Tynecastle.
Once Robbie Neilson’s side found their rhythm there was never any prospect of a fourth successive away win in the fixtures between these sides.
Had Tomas Cerny in the Thistle goal not made several good saves, the scoreline would have been even more emphatic.
Thirteen goals in five league games tells its own story, as does the two Thistle have scored over the same period. Given the discrepancy there was only ever likely to be one winner.
Asked how the performance rated, the down-to-earth Hearts manager replied: “I thought it was all right - I didn’t think it was great.
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“I’m pleased to get three points and keep a clean sheet. We played really well, but we were a bit wasteful in the first half. When you play against good teams you get into these [dangerous] areas very rarely and you have to make sure you take your chances.
“Winning games breeds confidence in the team but we’re still a long way off from beating Celtic.”
Thistle manager Alan Archibald admitted it had been a difficult afternoon and was disappointed with his side’s display. “We were very, very poor — we just didn’t play today,” he said. “We started brightly but after that we didn’t get going.”
There was an inevitability about the arrival of the opening goal in the 29th minute because after an early spell which, as Archibald correctly pointed out, belonged to the visitors — even if their neat attacking football never disturbed Neil Alexander — Hearts took command.
The first sign that it was to be business at usual came when Sam Nicholson cut in from the right and unleashed a fierce shot which Tomas Cerny did well to tip over the bar at the last second. Then full back Callum Paterson had a header cleared off the line and saw a second stab deflected for another corner.
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That almost brought the first goal when the ball was collected by Igor Rossi beyond the far post, but although the net bulged, the ball was on the wrong side. Thistle’s attempts to repel the mounting attacks became more desperate and they eventually came unstuck from yet another corner.
It was taken on the right by Sam Nicholson, and although Paterson’s header was again blocked on the line this time Osman Sow bundled the ball home.
As in the first half, when Hearts finally pressed down on the accelerator in the second Thistle were in trouble. A lovely through ball from Morgaro Gomis deserved a better reward than Nicholson sliding the ball wide of the far post with only Cerny to beat.
The midfielder made amends after a double miss from striker Juanma. First of all the Spaniard shot over the bar just before the hour, but he was far more culpable when he failed to convert a penalty ten minutes later.
Beaton awarded the spot- kick when Stuart Brannigan tripped Paterson just inside the box, but Cerny did well to dive low to his left and make the block. Unfortunately for the keeper his defenders were not so alert, and Nicholson followed up to gleefully slam the ball into the net.
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Just as he atoned for his earlier miss, so too did Juanma with the third goal, which confirmed that the hosts would take the points. Gomes was again the supplier of a through ball, and Juanma strongly shrugged off Frederic Frans and place the ball past Cerny.
That was far from the end of the chances as Cerny was forced to make two great saves from Gavin Reilly and Paterson, while Thistle’s Abdul Osman had an effort cleared off the line.
Star man: Callum Paterson (Hearts)
Hearts: Alexander 7, Paterson 8, Ozturk 7, Rossi 7, Oshaniwa 7, Buaben 8 (McKirdy 74min, 5), Gomis 8, Nicholson 8, Reilly 7, Sow 7 (King 64min, 5), Juanma 7 (Morrison 86min, 5)
Partick Thistle: Cerny 8, Miller 7, Frans 6, Seaborne 7, Booth 7, Bannigan 6, Welsh 7 (Osman 62min, 5), Fraser 7, Stevenson 5 (Lawless 58min, 5), Amoo 5 (McDaid 75min, 5), Doolan 5