Last summer, had anyone carrying a magic lamp offered supporters of Hearts the prospect of claiming a point on the final day of the season to win Scotland’s Premiership the response would have been emphatic. Hearts have not been champions since 1960. Old Firm dominance of has lasted four decades. Breaking both moulds had been portrayed as fanciful.
Being placed in that exact scenario will give palpitations to those in maroon between now and Saturday. Hearts will travel to Celtic Park with their fate in their own hands but in opposition to a dominant club, for whom domestic success comes as second nature.
Hearts have turned heads well beyond Scotland with their superb title challenge yet the vagaries of football mean that falling short now will prove so horrendously painful. One point. So easy to say, so fiendishly difficult to achieve.
In this win over Falkirk, Hearts were as perfectly professional as has been the case for the vast majority of this season. Two goals to the good at half-time, they were never likely to be headed from there. Celtic’s late, late show at Motherwell is what takes this title thriller to game 38 of 38. Hearts took acclaim and legitimately so from this fantastic crowd at full time. What price a title party next? It will all be decided in a game for the ages in the east end of Glasgow. Hearts’ players could be legends by Saturday afternoon.
Hearts’ start was jittery. This was understandable, given the weight of history on the shoulders of footballers totally unaccustomed to being in this position.
An almighty loss when this season ends will be the Tynecastle atmosphere, which was again at fever pitch before kick-off. With that, naturally, comes pressure.
Calvin Miller had the ball in the net for Falkirk inside five minutes, only for the goal to be ruled out for offside. The Hearts defence were more confident than they needed to be over that call, which was tight. The moment epitomised Falkirk’s impressive opening.
News that Motherwell had opened the scoring against Celtic reignited the home support. Hearts had to come from behind at Fir Park on Saturday yet Celtic’s recent form – five league wins in a row – meant only the most positive Hearts supporter expected a favour in Lanarkshire. It remained the case, though, that Hearts needed to find a foothold in this game. They had not found that within the first quarter.
Lawrence Shankland, unsurprisingly, almost settled Hearts. The captain’s deflected shot after fine buildup work from Alexandros Kyziridis and Cláudio Braga flew into the arms of Nicky Hogarth. The opportunity seemed to settle the hosts. The identity of the man to break the deadlock rather summed up a collective approach. Frankie Kent has spent much of this season as a back-up, his position in the starting XI here only on account of the horrible injury sustained by Craig Halkett at the weekend. From a Kyziridis corner on the Hearts right, Kent rose unchallenged to bury a header beyond Hogarth.
A bogus message soon filled the stands, that Motherwell had moved two ahead. Rather than await verification, the Hearts team took it upon themselves to do precisely that. Cammy Devlin, a midfield warrior, found himself in the unusual position of striding on to a loose ball 12 yards from the Falkirk goal. With the aid of a deflection, Devlin increased the Hearts lead. The home crowd were in dreamland now.
Hearts were playing and most certainly attacking with the conviction of champions-elect. Yet eyes, ears and everything else in between had turned towards Motherwell. There, Celtic’s equaliser changed the storyline once more.
Ghosts lurk at Tynecastle when it comes to situations like this. In April 1965, Kilmarnock visited this famous old venue needing to win by two clear goals to pip Hearts to the title on goal average and duly did so.
Forty years ago, defeat at Dens Park on the final afternoon of the campaign meant Hearts conceded the league to Celtic on goal difference. The task in the second half of this fixture was a simple one, to see out an unbeaten home league season and leave Celtic with the questions to answer. Celtic, after all, suffered last-day heartache and also under Martin O’Neill in 2005.
Hearts dominated a ragged second half until Ben Broggio miscued another decent Falkirk chance. Derek McInnes, the home manager, had made changes with Saturday clearly in mind.
Celtic’s 2-1 lead was endorsing McInnes’s long-held theory that this championship would go the full distance. Motherwell equalised through the former Hearts youth player Liam Gordon with the clock in the 83rd minute in Edinburgh. Blair Spittal curled home a superb Hearts third. The last act of the night was a Celtic stoppage-time penalty. Of what cost to Hearts? Time will tell.
