Hearts have been denied a fairytale Scottish Premiership title triumph on the final day after Celtic’s late show saw them retain the trophy in a thrilling decider.
Daizen Maeda and Callum Osmand both scored in the closing stages at Celtic Park to complete a remarkable turnaround for 3-1 as the most extraordinary of seasons produced a fittingly dramatic finish.
However, the stunning victory was marred by a pitch invasion involving thousands of home fans that occurred after Osmand’s goal deep into stoppage time.
Hearts had led before half-time in Glasgow thanks to a close-range header from a corner that was powered in at the back post by captain Lawrence Shankland, but were quickly pegged back thanks to Arne Engels’ penalty after Kieran Tierney’s cross had hit the hand of Alexandros Kyziridis inside the box.
Thanks to their one-point lead at the start of the day maintained with a midweek win over Falkirk, a draw would have been enough for glory for Hearts, who spent 250 days at the summit this season and were just minutes away from clinching a first top-flight title since 1960 and becoming the first club from outside of Scotland’s Old Firm to do so since Aberdeen under Sir Alex Ferguson 41 years ago.
After beating Motherwell 3-2 in midweek thanks to a hugely controversial last-gasp penalty, Celtic knew that an eighth successive win by any scoreline on Saturday would see them snatch a fifth consecutive title and record 56th overall to move one clear of arch-rivals Rangers on the all-time list.
They looked likely to fall short despite applying no shortage of second-half pressure in search of that elusive and vital second goal, with Kelechi Iheanacho hitting the post, until Maeda stepped up after 87 minutes to turn in a cross from substitute Osmand, who was back in the matchday squad for the first time since November after recovering from hamstring surgery.
The goal was initially disallowed for offside to temporarily halt the jubilant home celebrations, but was then awarded following a quick VAR check.
20-year-old academy graduate Osmand, making just his fourth senior appearance for Celtic, then raced away to tap into an empty net in the eighth minute of a tense period of stoppage time after Hearts had gone for broke in search of an equaliser and sent up goalkeeper Alexander Schwolow for a free-kick into the box that was swiftly cleared.
That led to a pitch invasion by thousands of home fans amid confusion over whether the final whistle had been blown and reports of confrontations with Hearts players, who were led down the tunnel for their safety and reportedly left the stadium quickly on the team bus with some still wearing their match kits and without conducting post-match media duties, accompanied by a police escort.
Celtic will be heavy favourites to now go on and clinch the double as they prepare for a Scottish Cup final meeting next weekend with a second-tier Dunfermline side managed by Hoops legend Neil Lennon.
A very difficult season by Celtic’s standards that included the second departure of Brendan Rodgers, the disastrous 33-day managerial tenure of Wilfried Nancy and plenty of fan fury at the board could have yielded another domestic treble, but they were upset by relegation-battling St Mirren in the League Cup final at Hampden Park back in December.
Martin O’Neill will rightly receive the plaudits for engineering the most incredible title revival after being parachuted in for two separate interim stints back in charge this term, winning his eighth major trophy with Celtic and first since 2005.
