Hearts vs Celtic. Scottish Premiership.
TynecastleAttendance18,258.
Report as Neil Lennon's first game back in charge of Celtic ends in victory
Thursday 28 February 2019 07:01, UK
Neil Lennon enjoyed victory on his return as Celtic interim manager thanks to a last-gasp goal from Odsonne Edouard in a 2-1 win over 10-man Hearts.
Substitute Edouard grabbed all three points for Celtic at Tynecastle Park in the 92nd minute to get Lennon's second tenure off to a perfect start.
James Forrest had put Celtic ahead in the 36th minute, before Jamie Brandon was shown a straight red eight minutes later for a flailing arm into the face of Jeremy Toljan.
Hearts' Oliver Bozanic equalised with a 56th-minute penalty as he sent Scott Bain the wrong way, after a sloppy pass from the Celtic goalkeeper forced Kristoffer Ajer into making a rash challenge on Arnaud Djoum.
With Rangers winning against Dundee, the result means Celtic remain eight points clear at the top of the Scottish Premiership table on 66 points. Hearts, meanwhile, stay in fifth on 44 points.
Scott Brown fired the first warning shot after a quiet opening to the game in the 19th minute with a fierce half-volley which Zdenek Zlamal parried away. Three minutes later and Sean Clare's acrobatic strike was saved by the fingertips of Bain.
After the half-hour mark, Steven Naismith squandered a great opportunity to give Hearts the lead, following a poor giveaway from Dedryck Boyata, but he stabbed his effort wide moments before a ruthless counter-attack resulted in Forrest tapping in Celtic's opener.
Scott Sinclair laid the ball off to Oliver Burke before he unselfishly put it on a plate for Forrest to place the ball into the empty net. Two minutes before half-time and Hearts were hit with another setback when Brandon was shown a straight red card.
On the stroke of half-time, Zlamal made a fine double save to deny Burke's deflected shot and a point-blank rebound from Sinclair.
Hearts were gifted a penalty in the 54th minute when Ayer brought down Djoum in the box which Bozanic fired into the bottom left corner to send Bain the wrong way.
Celtic appeared to lack ideas in front of goal with Nir Bitton, Edouard and Toljan all squandering half-chances in a scrappy second half, but the visitors finally broke through a resilient Hearts defence in injury time.
In the 92nd minute, Brown's lofted cross into the centre of the box dropped to Edouard, who tapped the ball past Zlamal to get his 17th goal of the season and ensured a precious victory for Lennon.
The Hearts striker left the pitch to a standing ovation and it was thoroughly deserved as he was a handful for Ayer and Boyata.
His strength proved too much for the Celtic backline and he played a crucial role in relieving some pressure off Hearts' defence who had to play a man down for more than a half.
Lennon faces his former club Hibernian on Saturday evening in the Scottish Cup quarter-final at 5.15pm. Hearts, meanwhile, play Partick Thistle in the cup on Monday night.
