Celtic had the perfect result at Tynecastle and did nothing with it

Last night, the Ibrox side got out of Tynecastle with a last gasp point.

On the balance of play, they certainly didn’t deserve it.

Hearts looked like the more threatening side from start to finish, and they created more chances than Derek McInnes’ team did.

Don’t take my word for it, though.

Here is how the Daily Record put it this morning:

Ragged Rangers looked out of ideas as one man spares full effect of Derek McInnes wrath.

Hearts hit back with goals from magnificent frontmen Claudio Braga and Calvin Miller.

McInnes will view this as a major chance missed.

Ragged.

Out of ideas.

A major chance missed.

That is the Scottish mainstream media describing the side that is supposed to be chasing us down.

If last night was the extent of the challenge Celtic are going to get this season, how on earth did we lose to them twice last month?

Because that’s the bit I can’t get past.

Not once, but twice, and both of them comprehensively.

Yet here was the same Ibrox side, stumbling around Gorgie, getting out-run and out-fought for the best part of 90 minutes.

Now, I’ll give Derek McInnes his due, he stood up this week and held his hands up over walking out on Hearts.

Having said that, you’d think a man with that much to prove would have turned up with a plan.

He didn’t.

They took the lead early on, and then they didn’t do very much else.

Hearts levelled, then went in front, and they looked the likelier winners right up until Makhanya popped up with a header three minutes from time.

Make no mistake, that goal rescued them.

It was a header out of nothing, from a free-kick, three minutes from time.

And that is the only reason the Ibrox side are not licking their wounds today.

It didn’t reflect the game.

How could a side we beat 7-1 put it up to the Ibrox side like they did last night?

Think about that for a second.

Seven. One.

That’s what we did to Hearts.

And last night they went toe to toe with the Ibrox side, hit them twice, and were a whisker away from sending them home with nothing.

Yet when we played the very same opposition, we couldn’t put up any fight at all.

That still baffles me.

I’ve been watching Celtic for a long time, and I’m not sure I’ve ever been as confused by a pair of results as I am by those two.

Then again, maybe it tells us something about the last month, and none of it flattering.

It was the perfect result for us, and we didn’t make a thing of it.

Look at what was on offer.

Hearts needed a win to stay in the title race.

The Ibrox side needed one to close in on Celtic.

In the end, neither made any inroads.

The Ibrox side are still four behind us and Hearts are another four back from them, which means the table looks exactly the way it did before kick off.

That should have been a night when we pulled clear.

Instead, we failed to capitalise on the stalemate by dropping points at home to Dundee United.

A result like that in Gorgie is a gift.

We handed it straight back.

Of course, I can already hear the counter.

A point is a point, the table’s still healthy, and nobody is going to win the league in October.

Fair enough, that’s all true.

But I’m not talking about October.

I’m talking about what happens when a chance like that comes along and we don’t take it, week after week, until the gap that looked comfortable isn’t comfortable any more.

This league title is there for the taking, but not if the manager is satisfied with nights like that.

Which brings me to Martin O’Neill.

He has stood there and said that he is satisfied with the result last night.

Satisfied.

How he could derive any satisfaction from that is beyond me.

I wasn’t satisfied, you weren’t satisfied, and I’d wager nobody in the support was satisfied either.

When the man in charge looks at a performance like that and sees a decent night’s work, nothing changes.

Nothing changes in the selection, nothing changes in the way we defend, and nothing changes in the way we start games.

Because if that continues, we are going to be dropping more points as this season wears on.

The Ibrox side have shown us they can be beaten, even if they got away with it last night.

Hearts have shown us the same.

The league is there for the taking.

It’s just that we have a manager who seems perfectly happy to leave it on the table.

You tell me, who else was happy with last night?

It seems nobody but him…

The Ibrox side were ragged, Hearts were brilliant, and we were SATISFIED.

Some title challenge this is going to be, isn’t it?

Wake up, Martin!

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