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Report from Football 365
A first-half penalty by Henrik Larsson allowed Celtic to maintain a seven-point gap at the top of the Scottish Premier League table. Like Celtic's other recent league games this was a closely-fought affair and Hearts had chances early on to win the game. But referee Mike McCurry ruled that Didier Agathe had been brought down in the box by Andy Webster and Larsson tied up the points - and the win - when he converted from the spot just before the break. Hearts may have endured difficult times on and off the park recently but they had obviously been boosted by their win against Dundee last week as they dominated the opening spell of the game. In fact the Jambos could have been ahead a minute into the game when Ricardo Fuller released Stephane Adam in the box but, before the Hearts striker could pull the trigger, Bobo Balde managed to intercept the move.Six minutes later a Stephen Simmons' free-kick picked out Fuller a few yards out from goal but, again, Balde was alert enough to clear the danger. But despite such a promising start from the Tynecastle side, Celtic were always going to prove dangerous and, as the game wore on, they increasingly looked like the side that would open the scoring. |