The reasons Hearts are failing ahead of Celtic clash as fans wait on catalyst that sparked relentless run
dailyrecord.co.ukAs Hearts were preparing for a trip to Celtic Park last season, fans feared a doing after an indifferent start to to the season.The Jambos had lost half of their opening 16 league games under Steven Naismith and had been dumped out of the Europa Conference League at the playoff stage thanks to a heavy second leg defeat away to PAOK.
A trip to Pittodrie the previous week had seen them lead before a second half collapse. Pressure was mounting on Naismith and little had much hope of him easing it in the east end of Glasgow.
But a shock 2-0 win thanks to a Lawrence Shankland header and a wonderful Stephen Kingsley free-kick was the catalyst for Naismith and Hearts to turn their campaign around.
They went unbeaten in their next 11 games in all competitions, moving out on their own in third place before crashing back down to earth with a 5-0 hammering at Ibrox.A home draw with Hibs was followed up by another 2-0 win over Celtic, this time in Gorgie, and while there was no repeat over their festive and New Year form, Naismith had done enough to ensure third place was never in danger with a relatively mixed bag of results for the remainder of the season.Now they're back at Parkhead this weekend and if anything, the mood of the punters is even more pessimistic than last December.
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