New Bhoys Arne Engles and Luke McCowan slotted in like jigsaw pieces to the team and also slotted away the two most important kicks in the game The Celts maintained their spot at the top of the tree with a 2-0 win over Hearts as they contained the Edinburgh side who looked to hit on the break throughout the match. VAR checks on two penalty calls saw the referee reverse both of his decisions, first after awarding the visitors a spot-kick, then after refusing a Celtic penalty call, overturn that decision as well Belgian Bhoy Arne Engels brought the house down when his spot kick gave him his first goal in the Hoops and the lead against Hearts early in the second half after he was unlucky on a couple occasions in the first 45. Then near the end of the 90, McCowan raised the roof when his shot made the game safe for the Celts. Despite the penalty scare which gave the visitors a bit of a boost the bulk of the play was concentrated around the Hearts box with a number of change’s for the Celts coming close. Engels, Kyogo, Nicolas Kuhn and Daizen Maeda all unlucky with blocks, the woodwork and Craig Gordon between the sticks all conspiring to record Celtic’s first goal-less first half of the term. Engels shot just wide from six yards after Alistair Johnston played the ball over in the third minute then Maeda showed a lovely piece of skill to flick the ball over the head of Gordon, but the move was flagged for offside. Kuhn then threaded not one but two excellent ball through the entire Hearts defence in quick succession, the first was to Kyogo who shot narrowly past form just inside the box, the second was to Maeda, but his attempt blocked for a corner. A long-range Reo Hatate shot was saved by Gordon who managed to divert the ball onde-handedly befor Engles showed some lovely skill six yards from goal to control the ball with his right foot and shoot with his left only to see the ball crack off the post as the Celts tuned up the heat Greg Taylor also had an attempt blocked after Scales found Maeda, but then, from their first corner, Hearts thought they had won a penalty when the ball came off Scales’ arm, but his close proximity to the attacked saw the referee’s initial award rescinded.Another penalty shout at the same goal, but this time after the turnaround saw the exact opposite scenario when a Taylor cross came off a maroon arm, and, to everyone’s amazement, the ref ignored the call. VAR didn’t though, and after being called to check the screen, the expected outcome vame to be and the ref rightly pointed to the spot. The ball was handed to Engels and he calmly sent Craig Gordon the wrong way to give Celtic the lead. The Belgian was desperately unfortunate later when a deft flick right in front of goal was deflected for a corner Just as in the first half, Lawrence Shankland tested Kasper Schmeichel from distance, and the keeper was called on in the 82nd minute when he got down low on the line to stop a shot from Musa Drammeh. That was as close as Hearts got though, despite applying some late pressure in the game, but, as ever, the telling pressure came from the men in green and white. And that was the case near closing time with a goal that came from the bench with three subs playing their part. Luis Palma strode forward and found james Forrest, he played the ball back the ‘D’ and McCowan fired in the prefect shot low to Craig Gordon’s right – the game was marked ‘safe’.
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