Post by Taxigirl on Feb 8, 2004 11:25:49 GMT
Celtic moved into the Scottish Cup quarter finals with a deserved win over Hearts at Tynecastle.
The result never looked in doubt after Stilian Petrov had slid the ball into the net from Henrik Larsson's cute pass after just three minutes.
Petrov made it two with a crashing drive after another fantastic pass from Larsson in 33 minutes.
Paul Hartley and Alan Maybury were sent off in the second half and Larsson headed a third goal at the death.
The tie was only three minutes old when Petrov gave Celtic the lead.
Larsson found space on the edge of the box before slipping an inch-perfect pass inside Patrick Kisnorbo to allow the onrushing Bulgarian to slide the ball past Craig Gordon.
The goal clearly rattled the Hearts defence and a slack pass by Maybury let in Larsson who laid the ball into the path of Chris Sutton, but the striker's powerful shot was pushed over the bar by Gordon.
Sutton claimed for a penalty when Gordon caught him with a mis-timed punch, but referee Willie Young awarded a goal kick.
Hearts tested Rab Douglas for the first time after half-an-hour when Hartley did well to create an opening for himself, but he rushed his shot and hit it straight at the keeper.
Minutes later Celtic doubled their lead with a beautifully worked goal. Sutton played the ball to Larsson who deftly flicked it on to Petrov and the midfielder drove a fierce first-time drive high into the net.
Hartley was fortunate not to be ordered off for an obvious elbow on Lennon, but the card shown was yellow.
Celtic continued to look the more threatening team after the break and should have been three goals up after 54 minutes, but Larsson somehow failed to connect with an Alan Thompson cross.
Mark de Vries came within inches of reducing the deficit just after the hour mark, but he prodded his effort wide under pressure from Stanislav Varga.
With six minutes remaining, Hartley was shown the red card for another foul on Lennon, but the game was already well beyond Hearts.
Petrov should have had his hat-trick in the final minute, but with time and space inside the box, his attempt at finding the top corner sailed high over the bar.
Maybury was shown his second yellow card for a late challenge on Lennon and Larsson capitalised on the space left at the back to head into an empty net after Gordon had saved from Petrov.
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Hearts: Gordon, Maybury, Pressley, Webster, Stamp, de Vries, MacFarlane, Wyness, Hartley, Kisnorbo, Sloan. Subs: Moilanen, McKenna, Kirk, Neilson, Weir.
Celtic: Douglas, McNamara, Varga, Sutton, Thompson, Pearson, Agathe, Lennon, Petrov, Kennedy, Larsson. Subs: Marshall, Valgaeren, Lambert, Maloney, Beattie.
Referee: W Young (Scotland).