Celtic 2 Hearts 1: Mary Jane, Sex, and Football

By: Matt | September 21st, 2009

What do the three things in the title have in common? It is what people from Holland do the best. Sometimes, they do all three at the same time, as it appeared when Glenn Loovens headed in an injury time winner yesterday against Hearts to put Celtic to the top of the SPL. You didn’t see Loovens with a big dooby of Amsterdam’s finest in his left hand, a fine Dutch woman in his right hand, and using his head to put the ball into the net after Aiden McGeady’s initial header sent the ball his way? Look harder, friend. Look harder. Of course, it looked like Celtic were going to be in for another week of controversy after Hearts opened the scoring just five minutes into the match when Suso struck one from 18 yards. Celtic finally equalized in the 56th minute with a Chris Killen header, who was starting for an injured Georgios Samaras. Killen missed a great chance to give Celtic the lead in the 71st minute when he miss hit the ball in front of a wide open net after Scott McDonald made a decent run but his shot was saved. Celtic also seemed to have a stonewall penalty denied when substitute Niall McGinn was taken down in the box, but surprise surprise Dougie McDonald waved play on. It would not matter though, as a corner in the final moments sent the ball to Aiden McGeady who’s square header met the head of Glenn Loovens and put Celtic to the top of the league. Thoughts and highlights after the jump:

-The first half of the game was bad for Celtic. 2nd half of the Hapoel Tel Aviv game bad. The team looked uninterested and like they thought they could just roll over Hearts. Now the Hearts goal was a good strike and there wasn’t much the defense could do, but the rest of the half there were way too many Hearts players getting past the defense and getting chances.
-The second half was better for the offense of Celtic. Celtic had three or four chances bang off the cross bar or post and dominated most of the play the second half. Of course, they also had a stonewall penalty denied, but what else is new. The goal was definitely deserved.
-After getting it all wrong Thursday, I thought Tony Mowbray’s team selection and subs were much better. Although a monkey could have put Gary Caldwell where he belongs in the backline and out of the midfield. Chris Killen’s selection was also forced, but I liked seeing two strikers out there instead of Scott McDonald by himself.
-Aiden McGeady was easily the man of the match for me. Was leaps and bounds better than everyone else on the field. Was getting no help from the referee, despite being knocked all over the field by every Hearts player, yet continued to move forward and was responsible for most of the Celtic attacks yesterday.

A video from a fan at the end where Celtic and Loovens got the late goal: