By Gabriel Mills
Despite a convincing 3-0 victory in the final home match for Hearts, it was agonisingly close to much more – Celtic were awarded a controversial penalty through VAR in the dying seconds away to Motherwell.
With a point separating Hearts in first and Celtic in second, Martin O’Neill’s side knew only a win would do if Hearts took all three points against Falkirk.
Motherwell took an early lead, to the delight of the Hearts fans, before Celtic equalised on the cusp of half-time through Daizen Maeda.
A sixth goal in four matches for the Japanese has been inspiring for Celtic, a crucial factor in keeping up with Hearts.
Ten minutes after the break, Benjamin Nygren fired a long-range missile into the top corner of the Motherwell net to give Celtic a lead.
The final stages of the game were about as dramatic as it gets in football.
Motherwell equalised in the 84th minute through Liam Gordon before VAR sent referee, John Beaton, to the monitor to check for a potential Celtic penalty.
A penalty was given and calmly dispatched by Kelechi Iheanacho to send the travelling Celtic fans into complete pandemonium.
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O’Neill praises “brilliant effort”
On a night where dropped points would have almost guaranteed the title for Hearts following their win, Celtic’s boss was keen to outline his side’s work ethic.
“I know whatever we lack, and we lack certain things, heart is not part of it,” he said in a post-match interview on Sky Sports.
“They were absolutely fantastic, they kept going until the very end as they’ve been doing now for quite some considerable months.”
The controversy surrounding the decisive penalty decision was not a view that O’Neill shared.
“We got a penalty which looks as if it’s pretty clear cut, given for the handball and also an elbow on top of that as well,” he added.
Hearts boss underlines importance of first goal
“We looked a bit nervy first five or 10 minutes but I thought once we settled in the game, the crowd got into it, we started playing the game more in their half,” said Derek McInnes.
An opener scored by Frankie Kent after half an hour was backed up five minutes later by a second for Hearts – Cammy Devlin firing home to put the hosts firmly in control.
Making the breakthrough was vitally important for McInnes, who said: “We took a leap of confidence with that [first goal], we looked more like ourselves and I thought we were good value for the 2-0 victory at half-time.”
The second half was a more routine job for Hearts but staying focussed defensively was another pleasing aspect for McInnes.
“We were very good second half in terms of dealing with Falkirk’s directness – to go 4-4-2, two big strikers to bang it up to them,” he said.
“Totally different type of game in the second half but I thought we dealt with that really well.”
Hearts prepared for Celtic on Saturday despite “disgusting” penalty call
“Everybody [in the crowd] was just interested in the [Celtic] score so when you heard Celtic got a 96th-minute penalty and it was going to VAR and they were checking it you just assume what’s happened is they get the penalty,” said McInnes.
A long throw looks to be headed away by the first Motherwell defender, his arm is raised and a decision was made by VAR to send the referee to the monitor for what was a huge call.
“Having seen it again I think it’s disgusting, I don’t think it’s a penalty kick but we’re up against it, we’re up against everybody and we’ll be ready for Saturday,” he added.
Hearts travel to Celtic for a final-day showdown needing just a draw to lift the title, a puzzling scenario for his players to prepare for.
“It’s a difficult mindset, when players are tuned to win games, to go and play for a point. I think it’s difficult in any game because nobody plays football to draw a game.”
“Simply sublime” Iheanacho impact
After a well-taken penalty taken under enormous pressure, O’Neill had plenty of praise for his Nigerian supersub.
“He’s [Iheanacho] seriously been brilliant for us, he’s won matches for us,” he said.
“He won a game at Dundee when it looked as if it might fall away, he’s won a game in the semi-final of the Scottish cup, he’s won another game for us as well, at Hibs.”
The former Manchester City youngster is proving to be a decisive part of Celtic’s side in the run in from his cameos off the bench in what has been a difficult, injury-plagued campaign.
Celtic host Hearts on Saturday in a match of monumental magnitude.
Celtic must win or Hearts will be the first team to lift the trophy outside of Celtic and Rangers since 1985.
This dramatic final shootout is the perfect advert for the Scottish Premiership and is one of the most eagerly-anticipated matches in the league’s history.
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