Hearts players ‘assaulted’ as squad storm out of Celtic Park minutes after loss | Football | Sport

The Hearts squad did not hang around at Celtic Park for long after their Scottish Premiership title decider descended into chaos. A pitch invasion ensued after a 98th-minute Callum Osmand goal on the counter confirmed a 3-1 victory for Celtic to clinch a fifth title in a row. Hearts goalkeeper Michael Steinwender had gone up for a corner in search of a crucial equaliser, with the visitors needing only a draw to win the league for the first time since 1960. But Osmand ran the length of the pitch to score, causing jubilant fans to storm the Parkhead pitch in celebration.

Sky Sports report that some Hearts players were allegedly assaulted on the pitch afterwards, while manager Derek McInnes was also subjected to some verbal abuse from rival supporters. The Jambos were filmed leaving Celtic’s home ground in full kit on the team bus after the chaotic conclusion to the match. Hearts were left reeling after having taken a 1-0 lead in Glasgow through Lawrence Shankland in the 43rd minute. They also topped the Scottish Premiership table for much of the campaign.

Since the start of October, Hearts had spent 226 days top of the table compared to Celtic’s one single day – which comes today after they beat the Edinburgh side to claim the 56th title in their history. Daizen Maeda had put the hosts in front in the 87th minute after an Arne Engels penalty cancelled out Shankland’s opener in first-half stoppage time with a penalty.

Maeda and Osmand’s late goals mean Celtic finish two points ahead of Hearts. And Hearts’ all-time top goalscorer John Robertson reacted on Sky Sports after watching the team bus leave: “They’ve shot off early and that’s it, they’ll be back off to Tynecastle. When they reflect on the season they’ve had, it’s been successful. Those players have done everything, that manager has done everything and the fans have done everything to get over the line but they’ve not managed it.

“But what a season they’ve had. Right now that’s no consolation to them, they’ll be absolutely sick, they’ll be absolutely gutted. There’ll be no consolation of what they’ve done despite what other people say. They’ll be absolutely devastated.”

Sky Sports host Eilidh Barbour said: “They [The Hearts players] have left in their full kit, they didn’t get changed and you can understand. But also, the scenes at the end where supporters came on the pitch, we are hearing reports that there were some assaults towards Hearts players.

“That is something that we do not want to see from supporters on the pitch at any time in football. It’s football at the end of the day.”

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Referee Don Robertson took the players off the pitch after the pitch invasion and there was confusion, with it expected the game would resume after Osmand’s 98th-minute finish. But the match did not restart, allowing the home fans to celebrate another title success.

Pundit James McFadden reacted: “You can hear the reaction from the majority of the Celtic fans in here with the fans on the pitch, the booing. You don’t want to see it. It’s a game of football, you have got two teams that have earned the right to go toe-to-toe on a day like this, and the winner emerges with the trophy.

“Hearts have played their part by a huge stretch, and you don’t want to see overspill of fans. I understand the emotion of the occasion, you have a right to celebrate but you can’t cross the line. If that is right that Hearts players have been assaulted that is absolutely unacceptable.

“It will take a lot of time for Hearts to get over this, but when they can they have to take a step back. They have pushed Celtic all the way and they were so close. It’s a credit to the players and to Derek McInnes.

“I understand spilling over on to the pitch with the emotion but this is unacceptable to me – going over to the players. I get emotions run high but the players should be safe on the football pitch. There should be no threat to safety. There will always be people that spoil it for everyone else. The majority of the fans booed those on the pitch. That is unacceptable and should never happen.”

Triumphant caretaker Celtic manager Martin O’Neill added: “It would be easy for me to be patronising and sycophantic but Hearts have been magnificent. They are the big story of this season.

“They have been terrific and they deserve all the credit. Derek McInnes deserves manager of the year, he has been brilliant and Hearts have been brilliant.”