EDINBURGH, SCOTLAND - NOVEMBER 23: Celtic's Adam Idah celebrates as he scores to make it 4-1 during a William Hill Premiership match between Heart of Midlothian and Celtic at Tynecastle Park on November 23, 2024, in Edinburgh, Scotland. (Photo by Ross Parker/SNS Group via Getty Images)
Celtic completed a perfect day by beating Hearts 4-1 at Tynecastle after their three closest title rivals had dropped points.
At Ibrox the third and fourth placed teams shared a 1-1 draw, along the M8 Aberdeen tasted defeat in the SPFL for the first time this season, losing 2-1 to St Mirren.
During the first half at Tynecastle Celtic were barely recognisable with Hearts having the better of the chances, after international breaks the hoops have rarely bounced back straight into top gear.
? Kyogo’s 80th Hoops goal
? Kuhn’s thunderous finish
? Idah’s impact off the benchCeltic beat Hearts 4-1 at Tynecastle to go three points clear at the top of the table ?? pic.twitter.com/hW0kRvOrBr
— Sky Sports Scotland (@ScotlandSky) November 24, 2024
The second half was a different story as the visitors handed out a lesson in finishing starting with an opportunist strike from Kyogo Furuhashi before a devastating strike from Nicolas Kuhn demonstrated the difference in quality between the two teams.
Adam Idam came off the bench to score, Hearts pulled one back through Musa Drammeh but in stoppage time Idah scored with a penalty to lift Celtic three points ahead of Aberdeen.
With Ross County visting Celtic Park on Saturday the hoops have the chance to go further clear at the top of the SPFL Premiership table with their closest rivals playing on Sunday.
Thanks for the video Joe – was on a works night out last night so hadn’t seen the highlights until now. Great second half from the bhoys but one major disappointment for me was the number of empty seats behind Craig Gordon’s goal.
Banners covering seats in the Celtic section which could have been filled with visiting fans – what was it they gave us, around 500 tickets?
Are Hearts so flush with cash that they can afford to allow this situation to continue? I wouldn’t have thought so.
Commercial suicide.
Let them reap what they sow.
I was saying that last night too. St Johnstone are first to float the idea of returning to larger allocations for away fans and the number of empty seats at Tynecastle and elsewhere will eventually prompt that discussion in other boardrooms too. Cutting off your nose to spite your face may be a typically thrawn Scottish thing to do but when the amount of money you are refusing could actually get your club another couple of players into the squad, it won’t be long before that other typically Scottish trait will come to the surface – meanness!