The Hearts manager did, though, have the comfort of an equaliser by the time Lee had gone off. Hearts suffered the loss through injury of Olly Lee soon after and that's going to have Craig Levein sweating in the countdown to Hampden.
Celtic folk need no telling of Johnston's ability but the guess is that they wouldn't mind seeing a little more of it next season. Two of the youngsters combined to get Celtic off to a flying start after two minutes, Ewan Henderson playing in the 20-year-old Johnston, who smashed his shot past Bobby Zlamal at his near post. At times it might have been hard for supporters to know whether to sing a lusty football song or a soothing lullaby. Hearts kicked off with eight players under the age of 22, including three teenagers, two of them aged 17. The visitors were hardly ancient themselves. To put his incredible rise into some sort of context, Dembele is younger than the Xbox. Celtic had six players in their starting line-up aged 22 or under and had four teenagers on their bench including Dembele. Their opponents on Sunday, and again at Hampden, were of a similar mind.
That was hardly a surprise given that Celtic are playing in the cup final on Saturday and some of their stellar men were deserving of a rest. It was a day when the league trophy was lifted largely in the absence of many of those who did so much to win it. The win takes Celtic on to 87 points, nine clear of Rangers, while Hearts end the season in sixth, on 51 points. The hosts made seven changes from the side that lost to Rangers last week, with 16-year-old Karamoko Dembele making his debut as a half-time sub. These sides meet again at Hampden in Saturday's Scottish Cup final but are likely to be much-changed from today. Johnston made sure of the victory, though, by netting the winner with six minutes left to play.
0 kommentar(er)
