Hearts 1 Celtic 1:CELTIC MANAGER Gordon Strachan reflected on the difficulties posed by a "frantic" trip to Tynecastle after declaring himself reasonably satisfied with their 1-1 draw with Hearts on Saturday .
The league leaders got off to a flying start when Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink volleyed home an Andreas Hinkel cross after 26 seconds, with the aid of a fumble by Hearts goalkeeper Janos Balogh.
Hearts responded strongly and Artur Boruc got nowhere near Bruno Aguiar’s 30-yard free-kick before a tight second half could have gone either way.
Strachan had shown his respect for Hearts by bringing in Glenn Loovens for Marc Crosas and putting Gary Caldwell in central midfield, while the flair of Shunsuke Nakamura was sacrificed for the endeavour of Willo Flood.
And the Celtic manager said there is only so much visiting teams can do to temper the aggression and energy of matches against Hearts at an almost-full Tynecastle.
“It’s very hard when the ball is going up to strikers and falling down and you have got to try to bring the ball down and create a counter-attack,” Strachan said. “But once the game died, we did do that.” He added: “It’s frantic. And also you have to look at the fact that they have about eight players 6ft and over and you have to deal with that as well.
“They use their weapons well, I’m not complaining about the way they football. I’m just saying they use their weapons well and there’s a contrast in styles. And trying to play when there’s a chance to play is fine. I like coming here, I think it’s good fun.
“You know you’re going to get something, decisions from the referee, tackles, good goals.”
Nakamura and fellow sub Koki Mizuno both missed good chances late on and Strachan felt that showed his team had the edge.
Rangers later reduced their lead at the top of the table to one point but Celtic will not face many tougher tests in the final six matches of the campaign.
“At the end of the season we’ll find out if it was a good point but at the moment we’re feeling not too bad about ourselves,” Strachan said.
Celtic’s medical staff have some work to do before next weekend’s visit of Aberdeen. Darren O’Dea and Georgios Samaras were injured while there was still no sign of Paul Hartley despite the midfielder declaring himself fit after a hamstring injury.
HEARTS: Balogh, Neilson, Zaliukas, Karipidis, Lee Wallace, Obua, Aguiar (Tullberg 86), Palazuelos, Stewart, Driver, Elliot (Nade 76). Subs not used: MacDonald, Cesnauskis, Jonsson, Park, Templeton.
CELTIC: Boruc, Caldwell, McManus (Crosas 46), Loovens, Naylor, Hinkel, Flood (Nakamura 56), Scott Brown, McGeady (Mizuno 82), Vennegoor of Hesselink, McDonald. Subs not used: Mark Brown, Ferry, Misun, Maloney. Booked: McManus.
Referee: C Thomson (Scotland).
