Heart to a diamond

The Airdrie manager, Alex MacDonald, swooped for his former Hearts player, John Colquhoun, last night when he agreed a fee with the Tynecastle club which may not amount to very much - since the Diamonds have yet to be fully paid for Alan Lawrence.

When Lawrence moved to Hearts in the summer, Airdrie were given the chance to take one of their men in exchange later and Colquhoun is the choice. However, Colquhoun has still to be persuaded that the time is right to drop out of the top flight.

Tommy Burns, the Celtic manager, searching for crumbs of comfort after his side's 3-0 home defeat by Paris St Germain in the Cup-Winners' Cup on Thursday, said: "I feel we have been playing well in our recent domestic games. Against Hibs, Kilmarnock and Aberdeen in our last three games we've arguably been as far ahead of them as PSG were ahead of us." Celtic visit Motherwell today.