Hearts prepare to blame Steven McLean if they lose the title to Celtic because he didn’t award them a penalty at Fir Park

Over at Tynecastle, Hearts are beginning to realise they are now in a real title fight.

The Celtic they thought they would be up against is a far cry from the Celtic we’ve seen throughout the season, and before the split.

Celtic have hit form at exactly the right time.

Daizen Maeda has hit form at exactly the right time.

And Martin O’Neill has instilled something in this side that seemed to be absent before we headed into the post-split fixtures.

The mentality and the will to win, and win well.

Games like yesterday’s call for that will to win and that mentality, and we got it in spades.

With two games left to go, there’s a feeling in the air.

That kind of spine tingling feeling that winning this title is Martin O’Neill’s destiny.

This is his chance for redemption.

It’s within touching distance now.

The ghosts of Helicopter Sunday can finally be put to rest.

21 years on, and at 74 years of age, Martin O’Neill can finish the unfinished business he surely felt he’d left behind him in May 2005.

Winning the 2005 Scottish Cup final was scant consolation for conceding the title to an EBT infested Rangers 1872.

I would imagine it haunts him to this very day.

But Celtic and Martin O’Neill are not alone in the quest to bury ghosts from the past.

Our remaining title rival is in exactly the same position.

Hearts are desperate to bury the ghosts of 1986.

40 years on, the loss of that title on the final day of the season to Celtic on goal difference still weighs heavily on the minds of the older generation of their fans.

The fact that this season’s title could also go down to goal difference, is in itself, a bit uncanny.

Goal difference between the two sides now stands at 3.

Now obviously, a hell of a lot could happen on Wednesday night when we head to Fir Park, and Hearts take on Falkirk at Tynecastle.

Which brings me to the main thrust of my article.

And an incident at Fir Park on Saturday night in the game between Motherwell, and of course, Hearts.

Bill Leckie, in his column in today’s Sun, has decided that Steven McLean’s failure to award a penalty to Hearts in that game will be the stand alone reason that they lose the title to Celtic, should that now come to pass.

He believes that every Hearts fan will point to that moment as the reason they lost the title:

Sadly, though, just as if Celtic grab the flag they will forever retell the story of where they were when Daizen Maeda scored THAT goal, so every Jambo will go to their grave swearing they were robbed by a refereeing call more inexplicable each time you re-see it.

And here’s the thing about that call, the one where Steven McLean rejected VAR’s advice to think again about refusing Alex Kyziridis a penalty midway through the second half at Fir Park with the score at 1-1 and the whole season hanging in the balance.

In Scotland, there is a tendency to blame the referees for everything that goes wrong in games.

My article earlier today was on that very subject, where I pointed out Nick Walsh’s horror show.

We won the game, so why – you ask – would I bother to point it out?

I point it out because it needs to be pointed out, and I will continue to do so.

And the Hearts fans are right to be aggrieved about McLean’s failure to award them a penalty on Saturday night.

But to say that will be the reason they lose the title?

That, to me, is the wrong mentality.

Hearts will lose this title if they fail to beat Falkirk and then Celtic at Parkhead next Saturday.

The same applies to us.

If we can’t beat Motherwell on Wednesday night, and then we fail to win against Hearts on Saturday, then deservedly, we will concede the title Hearts.

Are we worried about refereeing decisions?

Of course we are.

But we could say that we lost the title because Steven McLean decided to send off Auston Trusty at Tynecastle after John Beaton called him to the monitor when we were 2-1 up last January.

There are so many retrospective decisions throughout this season that you could use to blame on a title loss once this season is concluded.

But what this really boils down to is this.

You have two sides, both with demons to exorcise.

Martin O’Neill wants to exorcise the demons of Helicopter Sunday.

Hearts fans want to exorcise the demons of Dens Park 1986 and Albert Kidd.

What will decipher the outcome of this title race is who wants it more.

The desire.

The will to get this over the line.

And the mental fortitude it takes to be a title winner.

Dare I say it, Celtic have the edge in that department.

As a Celtic fan, I have to hope that sees us over the line.

Hearts can see the finish line too, but this is uncharted territory for them.

That might just be the difference in the end…

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