Robbie Neilson was proud in the wake of his side’s 3-1 loss in Glasgow’s east end as he insisted few teams have travelled to Celtic Park and played in such encouraging fashion.
The Hearts head coach had to make six changes to the side that defeated St Johnstone after a combination of injuries and illness forced his hand, with Lawrence Shankland among the absentees.
The Gorgie club’s top scorer is now a doubt for Saturday’s Scottish Cup quarter-final at Tynecastle as the two teams prepare to renew hostilities once more this weekend.
The visitors stunned Parkhead when Josh Ginnelly headed in the opening goal on 10 minutes before Daizen Maeda pulled the champions level midway through the first half.
Kyogo Furuhashi then nudged the hosts ahead shortly after the restart and Sead Haksabanovic clambered off the bench to curl in a sublime third late on to take the game beyond Hearts.
Despite the result, Neilson was pleased with the nature of his side’s display – particularly in the way that his players managed to frustrate the home crowd.
“There are a lot of positives to take,” Neilson told BBC Sportsound. “For 80 minutes we were outstanding. The players put Celtic under a massive amount of pressure and you could see the crowd starting to turn.
“That very rarely happens here. Usually they motor on and beat teams five, six, seven nil. But we got team and we want to come here and win.
“The game-plan was to try to pass the ball and go through them and we did that. We took the game to Celtic and passed through them extremely well.
“I’ve watched hundreds of games here and tonight was some of the best football you’ll see from an opposition team.”
Speaking prior to the match, Neilson was asked about the sweeping changes he made to his starting XI.
“A lot of them are enforced – Lawrence, Robert Snodgrass and Alex Cochrane all picked up injuries,” he explained. “There was a wee bug in the group as well.
“And then there are one or two that have been rested as well. It is an opportunity to try and get in the team and it is a great chance for them.
“I am hoping that we will have all three back [for this weekend’s Scottish Cup tie at Tynecastle]. Out of the three Lawrence is probably the most touch-and-go, the other two will probably be fine.”
