Hearts were beaten 3-0 by Celtic at Parkhead this afternoon.
A trio of first half goals, coming from Jota and a Daizen Maeda brace, was enough to do the damage as the men in maroon left Glasgow’s east end empty handed.
Neil Critchley made two changes to the side that defeated Ross County prior to the international break as Harry Milne came in for his Hearts debut and Cammy Devlin returned from concussion. Blair Spittal and Sander Kartum dropped to the bench.
Hearts tried to start on the front foot, with Milne doing well to rob Nicolas Kuhn of the ball before setting off down the side. He slipped in Kabangu who beat his marker and went for goal, with Sinisalo palming it out to Cameron Carter-Vickers.
The Jambos went close again after ten minutes as Adam Forrester’s corner was met by a side footed sweep at goal by Lewis Neilson; Sinisalo saved once more before Arne Engels made the clearance.
Celtic took the lead after 17 minutes. Starting back to front, Callum McGregor slid in Daizen Maeda with a classy ball that cut Hearts open; the Japanese forward showing explosive pace to get in behind and send a low drive beyond Craig Gordon.
The hosts had their second just moments later as Maeda’s header crashed off the woodwork from the cross, spilling into the path of Jota who drilled past Gordon to make it 2-0.
Hearts kept at it, and saw a glorious chance go astray after 37 minutes when Penrice hanged a cross to Wilson at the back post, with his header flashing across goal after the Jambos won the ball high up the park.
Despite Hearts having these chances, Celtic were simply clinical in front of goal, with the third arriving five minutes before the interval. Kuhn won the footrace down the right side before hammering the ball across goal, Maeda popping up to seal his second and Celtic’s third.
HT: Celtic 3-0 Hearts
It was a second half devoid of both talking points and action as both teams settled into a rhythm as they saw the game out.
Celtic had one big chance at the start of the second 45 as Gordon smothered a Kuhn effort, with further half-chances coming as he denied McGregor before covering an Alistair Johnston through-ball that ran through.
There was no futher action to report, with Hearts ending the day in defeat.
Celtic: Sinisalo, Johnston, Jota (Forrest 81'), Kühn (Yang 71’), Schlupp, Nawrocki, Carter-Vickers, Engels, Maeda (Idah 71’), Hatate (McCowan 81'), McGregor © (Bernardo 64’)
Subs: Bain, Taylor, Trusty, Idah, Yang, McCowan, Bernardo, Forrest, Ralston
Hearts: Gordon, Baningime (Kartum 71’), Shankland © (Grant 71’), Devlin (Spittal 71’), Steinwender, Milne, Kabangu (Forrest 86'), Wilson (Nieuwenhof 45’), Neilson, Penrice, Forrester
Subs: Clark, Halkett, Grant, Nieuwenhof, Spittal, Forrest, Dhanda, Kartum, Musa
