Hearts hammer Celtic to close on Champions League

Hearts hammered Celtic 3-0 at Tynecastle to take a huge step towards clinching second place in the Scottish Premier League.

Hearts hammered Celtic 3-0 at Tynecastle to take a huge step towards clinching second place in the Scottish Premier League.

An own goal from Stephen McManus and a free-kick from Paul Hartley within the first nine minutes put the Tynecastle team on the road to a crucial victory against the SPL champions.

Czech striker Roman Bednar then scored the third Sunday to tie-up the win which moved Hearts four points clear of third place Rangers, with only two games remaining, and put them within touching distance of qualifying for next season's Champions League.

Celtic had actually started the game brightly and should have been ahead in the second minute when Stanislav Varga headed Shunsuke Nakamura's free-kick back across goal and a flick by Dion Dublin wrong-footed the Hearts defence to put McManus clean through on goal.

However, the young defender lacked composure and his first-time shot from six-yards was straight at the home team's goalkeeper Craig Gordon.

It was a poor start for McManus but it got a lot worse five minutes later when he put the ball into his own net to give Hearts the lead.

Hartley's inswinging free-kick from the left lured the centre-half into going for the ball but he only succeeded in sending a powerful header past his own keeper Artur Boruc from 12-yards.

And in the ninth minute the Tynecastle team doubled their advantage, emulating their start on January 1 when they went two ahead early on against Celtic before finally losing 3-2.

Varga had fouled Roman Bednar at the edge of the box and referee Alan Freeland awarded a direct free-kick. As Boruc tried to organise his defensive wall Hartley showed quick thinking to fire the ball into the top corner of the net before the Polish keeper could get back across his line.

Celtic were rocked by the disastrous start and in the 15th minute they were almost three behind when Hearts' Czech midfielder Rudi Skacel struck the post from a tight angle.

Roy Keane missed a glorious chance to reduce the deficit in the 23rd minute when Steven Pressley's misplaced header put him one-on-one with Gordon but he rushed his shot and hit it straight at the keeper from close range.

Into the second-half Celtic hoped to repeat their come-back on New Year's Day.

Polish international Maciej Zurawski came close to pulling one back in the 51st minute when he broke in from the right and hit a powerful shot from 12-yards which required Gordon to palm away.

At the other end Boruc was required to save a 30-yard drive from Skacel in the 57th minute.

But in the 63rd minute Bednar put Hearts three up when he latched on to Hartley's clever sliding pass which put him through on Boruc and the Czech striker controlled the ball before clinically passing it into the net.

Stilian Petrov replaced Neil Lennon as Celtic looked for a way back into the game and in the 68th minute the Bulgarian midfielder smashed in a shot from 30-yards which required Gordon to save low to his right.

But there was no way back for the visitors and in the end Hearts were comfortable victors and, in addition to going four points ahead of Rangers, increased their goal difference advantage over the Ibrox side to 14.