🔗 Share this article

The dominant Edinburgh side surged eight ahead of Celtic at the summit of the Scottish top flight to bolster their early-season title credentials and deepen the struggles around the Celtic team.

A superb goal from Kyziridis and a spot-kick from Shankland gave Derek McInnes' side a two-goal advantage that the reigning champions could not recover from.

Dane Murray - one of three youngsters in the Celtic starting lineup - slashed into his own net early on to put Hearts ahead at a energetic Tynecastle, and it was the 22-year-old's foul that led to the spot-kick.

Callum McGregor's classy first goal of the season had swiftly equalized Hearts' opener, and Benjamin Nygren almost put Rodgers' team in front, choosing placement over power and allowing the Hearts keeper to make a crucial stop.

But the unstoppable Hearts side regained dominance to hand the visitors to back-to-back losses for the initial occasion since last year.

It also gives the Edinburgh side a commanding advantage at the top of the table.

The last time they were this far ahead was in 2005-06 under George Burley, when they ended as runners-up - a rare instance that a team has failed to win the title having held such a lead in the last three decades.

The Hearts coach, whose former team were runners-up to the champions on four occasions, has been at pains to play down title talk, as the club seek their maiden league title since the 1960s.

The Celtic boss has experienced this previously at the club - both flawless and stuttering starts to a season. He's never ended as runner-up.

But on the weekend's performance, this Hearts team showed they need to be taken seriously.

Analysis: The hosts Take Advantage of Depleted Celtic

The Edinburgh side started with the self-assurance of a side unbeaten in the league this season - the popular attacker poked a cross in for the striker to stab wide.

The Glasgow team didn't aid their cause with some unusual sloppiness in possession and they buckled under their initial test.

A headed effort from Braga was touched on to a post by Kasper Schmeichel and the follow-up from Shankland was diverted goalwards by the hapless defender, in for the injured Cameron Carter-Vickers.

The away side grew into the contest and started building moves. From one such move, Sebastian Tounekti released Tierney to square for the captain, who slotted home.

Aside from the opportunity for Nygren, Celtic found it hard to generate chances for lone frontman Jonny Kenny or his substitute Yamada amid the absence of injured forwards their key strikers.

Hearts regained their intensity and versatility in attacking from across the final third. The Greek forward, one of the finds of the club's relationship with shareholder Tony Bloom's Jamestown Analytics, struck low past Schmeichel from the just outside the area.

Immediately after, Murray tripped the midfielder in the inside right channel and Shankland scored. And it could've been an even more handsome win, had replacement Ageu not been stopped by Schmeichel.

The visitors' performance after the break was somewhat summed up in two incidents involving record signing Arne Engles.

The set-piece from Engles delivery was in stark contrast to his midweek exploits in the continental victory over their Austrian opponents and the national team player was then booked for a cynical foul.

Post-Match Comments

The Hearts manager: "You see how hard the players work, the togetherness. That's not sufficient on its own to win games consistently.

"Our strength lies in, is good technical ability. You're seeing that from a lot of players who have been here before. Some of the new signings are keen to demonstrate their quality.

"We've got a good thing going at the minute, but it's just one win. It's important for us to keep winning. We've got loads to do, loads to do. Following the initial fixtures is normally an indication of where you are."

The Celtic boss: "The second goal was disappointing from our perspective. We failed to push up when the ball went back as a defensive unit so when they pass the ball, they ought to be caught offside but didn't. We have got to do better with the attempt.

"There's still so many points to play for. It's still so early. It's only nine games in. Clearly, being eight points behind is not what we would want. The positive is there's so many games to play.

"Our attention must turn on the here and now and look to find more consistency and more quality in our play."

What's Next for These Teams?

The Glasgow club are back at home on Wednesday against newly-promoted Falkirk (19:45 GMT). At the same time in the top division, the Edinburgh outfit are at their opponents' ground.

---