Hearts Wrap Up Third Despite Defeat
Hearts wrapped up a top three finish in the Scottish Premiership with three games to go, despite the Macklin Motors-backed side falling to defeat against league leaders Celtic.
The Edinburgh side headed for Glasgow knowing that third place was within touching distance after a draw with Kilmarnock the previous week, and with their closest rivals going up against Rangers a day later.
Celtic took the lead on just four minutes following a corner, with Zander Clark’s punch clear falling to Reo Hatate, who crossed the ball in for Kyogo Furuhashi to nod the ball past the ‘keeper and into the net.
The Japanese forward then doubled the lead on 21 minutes when he raced onto a long ball from Matt O’Riley to slide the ball beyond Clark and make it 2-0.
A late penalty conceded by Lawrence Shankland saw Celtic wrap up the points as O’Riley smashed the ball beyond Clark but Hearts were still able to secure third in the table when Kilmarnock were then beaten 4-1 by Rangers a day later.
Whilst Shankland may have been out of luck on the pitch against Celtic, the weekend would end with reason to cheer for the star forward when he was named as the PFA Scotland Player of the Year.
Shankland – top scorer in the Scottish Premiership this season – beat O’Riley, Jack Butland and James Tavernier to the award and comes six years after he was named as League 1 Player of the Year during his time with Ayr United.
Next up for Hearts is a home game with Dundee.
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