O'Neill keeps Celtic in hunt

Heart of Midlothian 1 Celtic 4

Celtic delivered a declaration of intent yesterday as they tore Hearts' unbeaten home record apart with a stunning first-half display which keeps them breathing down the necks of Rangers.

Being switched to a Sunday shift has done little to stem the champions' work-rate and the way Martin O'Neill's team swept Hearts aside to close the gap at the top of the Scottish Premier League to one point, indicated they intend to answer every challenge put down by their Old Firm rivals.

If Rangers' success 24 hours earlier – stretching the gap to four points – had put pressure on Celtic, it did not show as Chris Sutton, Stilian Petrov and Henrik Larsson all found the net in the opening 45 minutes.

O'Neill said later: "We can't do anything about the fixture calendar and without Uefa Cup involvement, we are due to play on a lot more Sundays in the future.

"I would have taken a win beforehand, especially with Hearts' good record this season – but to win 4-1 was simply fantastic. The football we played in the first half was scintillating."

Sutton had started the goal sequence after three minutes when he won a foul against Steven Pressley and gathered Neil Lennon's lofted free-kick in the box. He then held off the Scotland defender before hammering a right-foot shot on the turn past Roddy McKenzie.

Six minutes later, Celtic were two ahead. This time Sutton provided the cross which was missed by Larsson but struck against the bar by Steve Guppy's left boot. The ball rebounded to Petrov at the edge of the box and the Bulgarian rifled a venomous right-foot shot into the net.

Hearts almost got back into the contest in the 26th minute, but the Celtic keeper Robert Douglas sprawled to his left to keep out a curling free kick from Jean-Louis Valois.

Larsson then made it three in the 37th minute, pouncing after Sutton's header came back off the bar and, five minutes later, the Swede collected his second goal when he beat the offside trap and coolly clipped his shot over McKenzie.

All that was left for Hearts was the quest for some pride. Gary Wales netted a consolation goal in the last minute when he headed in a free-kick from Valois.

Goals: Sutton (3) 0-1; Petrov (9) 0-2; Larsson (37) 0-3; Larsson (42) 0-4; Wales (89) 1-4.

Heart of Midlothian (4-4-2): McKenzie; Maybury, Pressley, McKenna, McMullan; McGeown (Webster, 46), Severin, Stamp (Simmons, 46), Valois; Kirk (Wales, 76), De Vries. Substitutes not used: Gordon (gk), Twaddle.

Celtic (3-5-2): Douglas; Valgaeren (Crainey, 75), Balde, Laursen; Agathé, Lambert, Lennon, Petrov (Thompson, 75), Guppy (Hartson, 75); Larsson, Sutton. Substitutes not used: Gould (gk) Miller.

Booked: Hearts: Severin. Celtic: Agathé.

Referee: K Clark (Sco).

Man of the match: Sutton.

Attendance: 13,911.