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Hartson takes full advantage

Celtic 4 Heart of Midlothian

Calum Philip
Friday 27 December 2002 01:00 GMT
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The hot breath of John Hartson on your neck is enough to put anyone off their stride. The burly Welsh striker managed to unnerve both Hearts and Rangers yesterday as he put Celtic back into the Scottish Premier League title race with a stunning hat-trick to narrow the gap between the Old Firm to just one point.

With Rangers losing at Motherwell, it was important that Celtic did not stumble as well, but they almost did, having to come back from behind and then reclaim their lead after Mark de Vries had scored a 66th-minute equaliser for Hearts.

Martin O'Neill, the Celtic manager, said: "At 2-2 the game was still in the balance but the effort we put in to get back in front was tremendous. What a fantastic goal from Hartson to make it 3-2. This was a big win for us. There was no point in someone else doing us a favour if we could not do ourselves one.''

The day had not begun promisingly for O'Neill. He saw his team concede a lead after just three minutes when De Vries stole in at the back post to meet a cross from Steven Boyack and power a header past Magnus Hedman.

Celtic worked tirelessly in the pursuit of an equaliser and were rewarded in the 22nd minute when Hartson met a corner from Alan Thompson and thumped a header past the Hearts goalkeeper, Roddy McKenzie.

Celtic now had their tails up and went in front just a minute before half-time. Hartson controlled a pass from Stilian Petrov and turned before rounding McKenzie and steering in an angled shot.

Intense Celtic pressure almost brought a third goal early in the second half with McKenzie showing great alertness to deny Henrik Larsson's left-foot volley, but it was Hearts who struck next, drawing level on 66 minutes. A fluent passing move saw Boyack eventually thread a pass into the path of De Vries and the Dutch striker slid a low shot under Hedman.

Celtic were at the crossroads. They either had to respond quickly or watch the advantage slip back to their Glasgow rivals some 20 miles away at Fir Park.

Hartson conjured up a stunning goal to restore the lead just two minutes later. Thompson picked out his run with a searching diagonal ball and the Welshman met it on the volley, which he lashed past McKenzie from the edge of the box.

Larsson ensured victory by finally scoring himself in the 73rd minute. Chris Sutton's clever pass from the centre circle released the Swede and he skipped past the keeper before finding the empty net with the winner.

Celtic (3-5-2): Hedman; Valgaeren, Baldé, Laursen; Agathe, Lambert, Sutton, Petrov, Thompson; Hartson, Larsson. Substitutes not used: Maloney, Mjallby, Smith, Crainey.

Hearts (4-4-2): McKenzie; Maybury, Pressley, McKenna, McCann (Mahé, 82); Boyack (Simmons, 74), MacFarlane (Hammill, 79), Stamp, Valois; De Vries, Weir. Substitutes not used: Gordon (gk), Severin.

Referee: H Dallas.

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