Celtic coast to victory in Scottish Premiership opener

A Leigh Griffiths brace inspired Celtic to a 4-1 victory over Hearts.

Scott Sinclair and Callum McGregor also opened their account for the season, with Esmael Goncalves scoring a consolation for Hearts in the closing stages.

Hearts, who sacked head coach Ian Cathro earlier in the week, nearly gifted Celtic a goal in the third minute. A Griffiths corner found Nir Bitton completely unmarked but the Israeli’s header went over the bar.

Griffiths then breezed past two defenders before his shot was beaten away by Jack Hamilton. McGregor’s follow-up was blocked by Christophe Berra.

The striker did open the scoring on the half-hour mark, running onto a Bitton long ball before rounding Jack Hamilton to stroke the ball into the net.

McGregor nearly opened his account before half time, racing onto a Scott Brown backheel inside the box but his shot went wide of the post.

Sinclair doubled Celtic’s lead after the break, poking home from six yards after Aaron Hughes failed to clear a corner.

It was 3-0 after 63 minutes when Brown’s through ball found McGregor. He crossed towards Griffiths to head in at the far post.

McGregor finally got the goal he deserved 10 minutes later. Sinclair drove towards the penalty area before laying it off to his teammate who thumped the ball high past Hamilton.

Hearts did manage a consolation with six minutes remaining when Goncalves collected an Arnaud Djoum long ball before striking into the near post off Craig Gordon.

Cover Photo: Celtic Park by Tom Brogan used under license by CC BY-ND 2.0.

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2 Responses

  1. 05/08/2017 14:48

    […] Celtic coast to victory over Hearts […]

  2. 05/08/2017 22:42

    […] Celtic coast to victory over Hearts […]

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