Chris Sutton’s five word salute as Celtic go top of the Premiership
Soccer Football - Scottish Premiership - Celtic v St Johnstone - Celtic Park, Glasgow, Scotland, Britain - April 9, 2022 Celtic's Georgios Giakoumakis celebrates scoring their second goal REUTERS/Ed Sykes
Celtic went two points clear at the top of the SPFL Premiership with a 2-0 win over Hearts.
A first half goal from Kyogo Furuhashi and a stoppage time own goal settled the issue but it was a largely flat performance with Ange Postecoglou opening up with the same Starting XI for the third match running.
Needs to start, give Kyogo a wee go on bench HH
— Paul (@rooneyp1970) August 21, 2022
Giorgos Giakoumakis didn’t get on until the 72nd minute but chased everything down, got a few efforts at goal then forced the second goal off a defender in stoppage time.
Hearts made seven changes from the side that lost 2-1 to Zurich on Thursday but presented the hosts with their toughest challenge of the season.
Ten minutes into the second half Liel Abada and Reo Hatate replaced Daezen Maeda and David Turnbull but the hoops never got going with Hearts growing in confidence.
In the closing minutes Toby Sibbick and Alex Cochrane picked up their second yellow cards with the threat of Giakoumakis forcing an own goal from a Hearts defender with virtually the last touch of the game.
Next Sunday Celtic are away to Dundee United before the fixtures come thick and fast with regular midweek matches including Champions League ties.