Hearts ruined Wilfried Nancy’s Celtic debut as the visitors won 2-1 at Parkhead to move three points clear the top of the William Hill Premiership.
Goals in each half from Claudio Braga and Oisin McEntee earned the league leaders their second victory over the champions this season, while Kieran Tierney’s stoppage-time reply came too late to spark a comeback.
Braga took advantage of some static defending to net his 10th goal for Hearts in the 43rd minute as the home side waited for an offside flag that never arrived.
McEntee powered home a free header from Harry Milne’s 64th-minute corner.
Celtic dominated possession until the opener, but found clear-cut chances hard to come by as the players adapted to a new formation.
Hearts’ victory over Celtic on October 26 proved to be Brendan Rodgers’ final game in charge of the Hoops, but Derek McInnes’ men only won one of their subsequent six matches and interim manager Martin O’Neill closed an eight-point gap before making way for Nancy in midweek.
Nancy had spoken about adding “nuances”, but there was a significant change to the Celtic formation.
The hosts lined up with Tierney in a three-man central defence with wide players Yang Hyun-jun and Sebastian Tounekti tasked with more defensive duties than normal. Neither really threatened on the wing.
Nancy lined up with a four-man ‘box midfield’ with Callum McGregor and Arne Engels at the base and Benjamin Nygren and Reo Hatate further forward.
With McGregor lining up on the right, the Celtic captain was occasionally missed from his orthodox position in front of the central defence although he was more central as the game progressed.
Although they dominated first-half possession, Celtic only created two real chances which both fell to Daizen Maeda after balls in behind the Hearts defence from Tierney and McGregor.
The Japan forward was off balance when he hit both of his shots though, the first comfortably saved by Alexander Schwolow and the second going wide.
The opener stunned Celtic Park and led to a delayed celebration in the away stand as everyone looked towards the assistant referee.
Braga looked offside to many as he got his head to a forward header from Alexandros Kyziridis and several Celtic players still had their hands raised as Milne’s sliced shot fell at the feet of McGregor. Braga outmuscled the Celtic captain and fired into the corner of the net.
Assistant referee Ross Macleod was proved right as Engels had played the Portuguese forward onside out wide.
Engels fired over and McGregor forced a save as Celtic pushed for an equaliser after the interval, but Hearts grew as an attacking force.
Lawrence Shankland set up Tomas Magnusson, but the midfielder’s header lacked conviction and the Hearts captain then drew a near-post save from Kasper Schmeichel. McEntee escaped the attentions of Nygren to head home Milne’s driven deep corner.
Celtic lacked belief to get back in the game. Substitute Luke McCowan failed to seriously trouble Schwolow from two half-chances and there was a mass exodus after Hatate volleyed against the crossbar from 10 yards with three minutes left.
The departed fans missed Tierney driving the ball home after McCowan’s cross ultimately fell for the defender 12 yards out, but there was little time for Celtic to snatch a point.
Nancy now has a home game against Roma in the Europa League before next Sunday’s Premier Sports Cup final against St Mirren.
