Hearts beat ten-man Celtic amid first-half VAR drama at Tynecastle

Hearts have defeated ten-man Celtic at Tynecastle amid first-half VAR drama in the capital.

The 2-0 loss, with goals coming either side of the break, means the champions miss out on the chance to overtake league leaders Rangers at the top of the Premiership with both of the top-two suffering defeats in the same weekend for the first time since 2018.

It’s the second time in as many matches that Hearts have been victorious over the Parkhead side this season as they move 13 points clear in third.

In an eventful first-half there was two penalties awarded, one scored and one missed, a sending off and a goal chopped off at either end.

Jorge Grant scored the opener from the penalty spot after Celtic had a man sent off earlier to put the home side a goal up and a man up at half-time.

The league’s top scorer Lawrence Shankland kept up his impressive record this season when he doubled the lead early in the second-half.

It was action packed opening twenty minutes in the capital with a penalty miss, a red card and a goal chopped off, all for the visitors.

The Hoops were awarded a spot-kick for a challenge by Alex Cochrane on Yang inside the box and Idah stepped up but his effort was saved by Zander Clark.

Just minutes later Cochrane and Yang were involved again when the winger was sent-off for a high-boot challenge on the Hearts defender.

Referee Don Robertson initially booked the South Korean before being called over to the VAR monitor to review the decision and upgrading the yellow card to a red.

Matt O’Riley had the ball in the net soon after but the strike was ruled out for an offside against Idah in the build up.

A second penalty was awarded at the end of the half and this time it was up the other end with Robertson again being called over to the monitor to review a handball after the ball hit Tomoki Iwata’s arm.

He pointed to the spot and Grant stepped up up to put the ball past Hart and make it 1-0 to Hearts.

Lawrence Shankland thought he had doubled the lead in first-half injury-time but after yet another lengthy VAR check the goal was ruled out for offside.

With the home side leading at the break Brendan Rodgers decided to introduce Kyogo into the action in the place of Paulo Bernardo in the hope of giving Celtic more of an attacking threat.

But it was Hearts that got the next goal and this time Shankland wasn’t to be denied his 27th of the season with Scotland manager Steve Clarke watching on.

The forward latched on to a loose ball at the edge of the area before firing it past Hart to make it 2-0 with the second-half just ten-minutes old.

Celtic pushed to try and get themselves back in the game with Kyogo and Idah both coming close but Clark saved both efforts.

The Scotland cap kept Idah out again with another good save with his feet in the final five minutes to keep the 2-0 score-line in-tact.

The result means Rodgers’ side remain two points behind Rangers with nine games, including two Old Firms, remaining in the race for the Premiership crown.