Celtic vs Hearts. Scottish Premiership.
Celtic ParkAttendance58,816.
Report as Celtic fail to bounce back from losing at Kilmarnock last Sunday giving Rangers the chance to move ahead of them in the table if they win their two games in hand; goals from Lawrence Shankland and Stephen Kingsley give Hearts first win at Celtic since 2007
Saturday 16 December 2023 20:59, UK
Celtic's 52-game unbeaten league home run was ended as Hearts beat them 2-0 to inflict back-to-back Scottish Premiership defeats on the champions for the first time in more than 10 years.
Brendan Rodgers' league leaders failed to bounce back after losing at Kilmarnock last Sunday and have now given Rangers the chance to move ahead of them in the table if they win their two games in hand.
Hearts made the perfect start when Lawrence Shankland nodded in a corner at the back post after 15 minutes and by the half hour Stephen Kingsley had doubled their lead from a free-kick, his first goal for 20 months.
Celtic's response was poor and the players were booed off by their supporters at full-time. Hearts, who had not won at Celtic for 14 years, move up to third after ending a run of two defeats.
With the Green Brigade ultras group still banned, the atmosphere among the home fans was again flat but it turned angry for a spell late in the second half as Celtic toiled.
One fan in the main stand sparked wider dissent when he shouted towards the Celtic directors, leading to chants of "sack the board" from around the stadium and more personal songs aimed at chairman Peter Lawwell.
The club's summer recruitment again came into question with only one of their eight summer signings among the 16 players to feature.
Hearts won comfortably in the end to give manager Steven Naismith a positive end to a week in which his results and style of play came under criticism at the club's annual general meeting.
The home side threatened first when Greg Taylor saw a powerful first-time strike from 25 yards pushed over but Hearts were ahead in the 15th minute.
Jorge Grant's deep corner found Shankland completely unmarked and the Scotland striker bulleted a header into the roof of the net to net his 13th goal for Hearts this season.
Celtic pressed without testing Zander Clark and Hearts doubled their lead in the 30th minute after Cameron Carter-Vickers was penalised for a challenge on Nathaniel Atkinson. Kingsley again showed his dead-ball prowess as he curled the ball over the wall and into the corner of the net.
Celtic showed some urgency in response. David Turnbull's left-footed strike forced a good save from Clark and Kyogo Furuhashi set up Luis Palma for what looked a certain goal until Kingsley threw himself at the shot to block.
Hearts continued to ask questions of their hosts, mostly from corners, and Rodgers made three changes at the start of the second half.
Anthony Ralston replaced Alistair Johnston, striker Oh Hyeon-gyu came on for midfielder Turnbull and Daizen Maeda made his comeback from a knee injury to replace Mikey Johnston.
The latter had been on the end of much of the Celtic support's frustration as he struggled to make an impact, although Joe Hart twice incurred wrath for punching crosses he could have caught.
Hearts were forced into one switch as Toby Sibbick replaced the injured Kingsley.
Celtic had a couple of half chances as Frankie Kent put in a brilliant challenge on Oh and Furuhashi shot over, but there was little sign of a comeback.
Left-back Alexandro Bernabei came on for winger Palma for only his fourth appearance of the season and the Argentinian soon put in two poor crosses before James Forrest's 71st-minute introduction for Taylor saw him revert to his normal position.
That was the final throw of the dice from Rodgers and Oh missed a decent chance to spark some life into the game when he was well wide from Forrest's cutback.
Celtic boss Brendan Rogers told Sky Sports:
"I want to apologise to the support base - I don't think I have ever had to to that with regard to performance but today they deserve it,.
"It's mid-December and you get, 60,000-odd fans here and the lack of desire and passion was just really really poor. It wasn't the whole team, Callum Mcgregor was brilliant, trying to drive the team on, and one or two others.
"It is just that consistency and mentality. We won a game in midweek and have played some really good football at times. There is a mentality that you need to have consistently and we didn't have that from the off."
Pressed on why Celtic are struggling, Rodgers added: "It is mentality and an ambition and a drive from within and a spirit that keeps pushing you.
"Guys like McGregor, who have this incredible mindset - he had to play two or three positions to try and get the team going in the game - that is something that comes from within. We need to activate that."
Hearts boss Steven Naismith:
"The biggest aspect is when you win the ball. You need to cause them problems, and I think we did that. Our composure on the ball leads to us getting the corner, it leads to us getting the free-kick that get us the goals.
"That's not just luck for Shanks at the back post, it's having a calmness in these big moments.
"Or whether it's our defenders deciding they can see pass and they make the pass.
"I don't think there's a better team in Scotland that press than Celtic, they are really aggressive, they are really tough.
"And we played through it at times, we were good enough to do it, and that's massively important when you are playing against the Old Firm."
Celtic's next Scottish Premiership match is at home to Livingston on December 23, while Hearts host St Mirren on the same day.
Both matches kick off at 3pm.
