Key events
49 mins: Hearts hit the bar! Kyziridis with the effort, and it’s not entirely clear if he’s attempting to stand the ball up to the back post, or to cleverly chip Hogarth. Whatever, he very nearly does the latter, but the ball drops onto the bar.
46 mins: Peeeeeep! Hearts get the second half started.
Three halftimely substitutions at Hearts: Falkirk bring on MacIver and Parkinson for Wilson and Tait. Stephen Kingsley replaces Harry Milne for Hearts.
Half-time: Rangers 1-1 Hibernian
It’s also half-time at Ibrox, where Rangers have completely dominated Hibernian by every statistical metric except the important one.
Half times: Motherwell 1-1 Celtic, Hearts 2-0 Falkirk
Celtic go in at the break with honours even, and a point would be enough to take the title to the final day. In the very unlikely event that there are no more goals tonight, Celtic would need to win by three goals on Saturday.
45 mins: That’s quietened the Tynecastle crowd. Sky are spending almost as much time showing us the scenes in the stands as on the pitch, as tension eats away at those present.
GOAL! Rangers 1-1 Hibernian (Aasgard, 41 mins)
And Rangers also equalise! Thelo Aasgard with what is being described as “a great free-kick”.
GOAL! Motherwell 1-1 Celtic (Maeda, 41 mins)
They’ve had a shot on target now! It’s Daizen Maeda with it: a thunderous challenge about midway through the Motherwell half sends the ball zipping straight to the Celtic forward inside the area, and he accepts the gift and finds the far corner.
39 mins: Celtic have not only failed to score, they’ve failed to have a shot on target. Motherwell, to be fair, have only had one, but they’ve also had more of the ball, more shots, more corners.
37 mins: Ever since Hearts stopped looking like the 11-man personification of pure panic, they have been really classy. Great interplay in tight spaces, good movement, lovely to watch.
35 mins: It’s a great little move, even if there’s a bit of luck involved. Claudio Braga is at the heart of it, and when Tait slides in to tackle him he only manages in pushing the ball into the path of Devlin, whose shot deflects past Hogarth!
GOAL! Hearts 2-0 Falkirk (Devlin, 34 mins)
And they double their lead! Tears on the terraces! Full-on blubbing!
32 mins: Another chance for Hearts! Another corner, this time from the right side, and it drops at the feet of Milne beyond the far post, who takes aim at the far corner but misses it.
32 mins: The table as it stands: Hearts on 80 points, Celtic on 76. With a third of the game played, Hearts are exactly where they want to be.
GOAL! Hearts 1-0 Falkirk (Kent, 30 mins)
A brilliant cross from Kyziridis and Frankie Kent is entirely unmarked as he powers it in from the edge of the six-yard box!
29 mins: A lovely pass from Spittal to Milne, and though his cross is cut out this time the ball does go behind for a corner.
28 mins: Kyziridis takes on Hart, who does well to get in the way of the cross and also to stop the ball going behind for a corner. After that shaky start, Hearts appear to have rediscovered how to play football.
26 mins: Hearts’ best move of the game: Kyziridis exchanges passes with Braga and passes to Shankland, whose shot from just inside the penalty area deflects to Hogarth.
25 mins: Again Hearts look for Findlay with their set piece, but it’s too long for him and, indeed, everybody else.
24 mins: Claudio Braga nicks the ball just before Hart clears it, which means that Hart’s swinging boot lands on his derriere. This appears to hurt, and he spends a couple of minutes on the floor.
23 mins: Hearts gang up on Yeats and steal the ball from him, leading to a cross, which leads to a corner, which leads to Findlay heading well over the bar.
20 mins: A terrible start to the game from Hearts, who haven’t settled at all. But vitally Falkirk haven’t capitalised, and there’s time for them to settle.
GOAL! Motherwell 1-0 Celtic (Watt, 17 mins)
Suddenly, with nothing much going on, Tynecastle explodes! News has filtered in from Motherwell, where Elliott Watt’s volley from the edge of the area has somehow bounced its way past Sinisalo!
15 mins: A booking for Spittal, who throws himself at Allan as the Falkirk full-back clears the ball. He has no chance of actually getting the ball, though, and somehow allows himself to slide into the player. Really poor decision-making, and rightly punished by the ref.
14 mins: Milne goes down very easily after Wilson makes pretty insignificant contact, and wins Hearts a free-kick on halfway.
13 mins: The ball drops to Baningime on the edge of the Falkirk box but though the fans urge him to shoot he’s closed down before he can do so, and the move peters out.
12 mins: Talking of Rangers, this has come in from the Press Association:
James Tavernier pulls out of his last Rangers game at Ibrox after being benched
Captain James Tavernier withdrew from the Rangers squad after being named on the bench for what was to be his last game at Ibrox, the Press Association understands.
The 34-year-old right-back was expected to say goodbye to the Gers fans in the penultimate Premiership game of the season against Hibernian after 11 years at the Govan club.
The official match programme was full of tributes to Tavernier, who was mocked by Celtic fans when he was substituted in the 3-1 defeat at Parkhead on Sunday, a third successive post-split loss for the Danny Rohl’s side who are consigned to third place this season.
It is understood Tavernier was unhappy about being told by Rohl that he was not starting the match against Hibs – although it was likely that he would come on at some point – and pulled out.
GOAL! Rangers 0-1 Hibernian (Boyle, 5 mins)
Rangers have fallen behind at Ibrox. Sky briefly threatened to show me the goal, but then decided not to bother.
9 mins: The first big cheer of the night from the home fans, but it’s a sarcastic one: Hogarth takes an age over a goal kick, and then boots it straight into touch.
7 mins: Now Broggio passes into the area and it looks like it’s going to give Wilson a shooting chance, but Milne gets back and gets in the way. Falkirk continue to play like they’re the title-chasing side.
Yes it is!
5 mins: It looks very close, with Milne in the centre well behind the rest of the Hearts back line, but he gets away with it.
GOAL! Falkirk have it in the net, but is it going to be disallowed?
4 mins: Falkirk release Miller down the left. He’s in all sorts of space and is free to run into the area, from where he slides an inch-perfect low shot inside the far post. But the flag’s up!
2 mins: And another one! Hearts are a bit of a mess at the moment, and Schwolow spills, or doesn’t even attempt to catch, two crosses in about 15 seconds before the ball is booted behind.
2 mins: Falkirk have started on the front foot, and Broggio has won his side a corner.
1 min: Peeeep! Falkirk get the game started. It looks like Celtic kicked off about 90 seconds earlier.
The players are out! And the Tynecastle crowd is in fine voice as they do the Hey Jude la-la-la-la bits.
John McGlynn, the Falkirk manager:
It’s going to be tough, that’s for sure. Hearts are going to have everything to play for. They’ve got to do their business. We’re here to put on a show, to show everyone how good a team Falkirk are. We need to get a good start in the game. It’s imperative, from our point of view, that we defend well and get a good start in the game.
It can’t be nice to feel like you’re being hunted. At the start of March Hearts were eight points ahead of Celtic (who had a game in hand), at the start of April their lead was down to five, at the start of May to three, tonight it’s one. It must take effort to dispel the sense of inevitability that comes with a gap that insists on shrinking like that. Here’s Derek McInnes, who says that Cammy Devlin and Harry Milne won’t be able to play the full 90 minutes today but that he’d prefer to have them from the start than for them to be on the bench and him having to constantly wonder when to throw them on. Also:
Just concentrate on the game. We’ve just got to assume that three points is going to be really important and the focus is just trying to beat Falkirk. They’re a good team. Sometimes you play teams that don’t have a lot to play for but that isn’t the case here. It’s hard to ignore [the hype], we’ve got to try to enjoy and relish it. But there’s work to be done to get three points here and that’s what we’re concentrating on.
Jens Berthel Askou, the Motherwell manager, has a chat. He refuses to comment on “things that have nothing to do with what we’re here to do”, such as reports linking him with Toulouse. Meanwhile:
It’s great. I just told the players, I think we’re made for these events, to compete in them. We’re going to get one hell of a crowd here and that’s going to lift us even more, so we can’t wait. Fourth position [would be] a massive achievement for the club. We’re here to make our own dreams come true, that’s what we’re working on, and everyone else has to deal with their own.
The teams!
The team sheets have been handed in, and here are the night’s big names. Hearts are without Craig Halkett and Marc Leonard, both injured, but Cammy Devlin and Harry Milne are back. Celtic make one change, Stbastian Tounekti swapping in and Luke McCowan finding himself benched.
Hearts v Falkirk
Hearts: Schwolow, Steinwender, Kent, Findlay, Milne, Spittal, Devlin, Baningime, Kyziridis, Braga, Shankland. Subs: Fulton, Kingsley, McCart, Kabore, Borchgrevink, Forrest, Altena, Kerjota, Chesnokov.
Falkirk: Hogarth, Henderson, Donaldson, Allan, Hart, Spencer, Tait, Miller, Yeats, Broggio, Wilson. Subs: Sneddon, Graham, MacIver, Cartwright, Oliver, Ross, Parkinson, Brown, Bennett.
Referee: Nick Walsh.
Motherwell v Celtic
Motherwell: Ward, Sparrow, O’Donnell, Koutroumbis, Longelo, Fadinger, Watt, Slattery, Just, Said, Maswanhise. Subs: Connelly, Gordon, Nicholson, Priestman, Ross, Booth, Thomson, Hendry, Charles-Cook.
Celtic: Sinisalo, Johnston, Trusty, Scales, Tierney, McGregor, Engels, Nygren, Yang, Tounketi, Maeda. Subs: Doohan, McCowan, Iheanacho, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Saracchi, Hatate, Murray, Forrest, Ralston.1
Referee: John Beaton.
Rangers v Hibernian
Rangers: Butland, Sterling, Djiga, Fernandez, Rommens, Barron, Diomande, Aasgaard, Moore, Chermiti, Antman. Subs: Kelly, McGuire, Aarons, Souttar, Meghoma, Chukwuani, Skov Olsen, Gassama, Miovski.
Hibernian: Sallinger, O’Hora, Hanley, Iredale, Passlack, Barlaser, Chaiwa, Obita, Campbell, Boyle, Elding. Subs: Smith, Megwa, Newell, C Cadden, N Cadden, Mulligan, Andrews, Bushiri, Scarlett, Suto.
Referee: Matthew MacDermid.
Eilidh Barbour, doing the presenting duties for Sky, declares that were are “on the brink of a historic night” as coverage begins. And I guess that’s mostly right. We’re on the brink of a night, for sure, and it’s a night that might be historic.
Hello world! Well, aren’t these extraordinary times? So gripping has the Scottish Premiership title race become, not even the Guardian can ignore it! And tonight it might even be decided: league leaders Hearts host Falkirk while Celtic, just one point behind with two to play and coming into the game on the back of five successive league wins, head to Motherwell. Victory for one and defeat to the other (so long as the one doing the winning is Hearts) and it will be over.
As you’re likely to know by now, if it isn’t settled tonight it’ll be decided when the top two face each other on Saturday. Rangers meanwhile host Hibernian tonight: Hibs, currently fifth, could still overtake Motherwell in fourth or be overtaken by Falkirk in sixth, but Rangers will come third whatever they do in their last two matches.
Here, for the record, are tonight’s three fixtures, all of them 8pm BST kick-offs:
Hearts v Falkirk
Motherwell v Celtic
Rangers v Hibernian
And here’s what Hearts manager Derek McInnes had to say ahead of a potentially career-defining night for him and his team:
I’ve just assumed Celtic are going to win their game, I’ve had it in my head that we’re going to the last game and I’m prepared for that. Listen, there’s no easy games for anybody, nothing’s straightforward. Motherwell are a more than capable team. They were fully committed against us and I’m sure that’ll be the same again against Celtic.
We have been trying to hold off a couple of heavyweights for a long time now. We’ve managed to see off Rangers and we’ve got to try and see off Celtic over the next two games. I think the facts show we’re coping brilliantly. We’ve already broken a club record in terms of points tally and we’ve got a Champions League qualifier already secured, but obviously we want to try and go one better now and win the league.
And finally, here’s Ewan Murray’s preview of the evening:
It is a sign of shifting attitudes that the fact Hearts could claim the Scottish Premiership title on Wednesday was somewhat lost in analysis of the weekend’s events. Given Celtic’s form such a scenario is an unlikely one, but that it exists at all is remarkable: a Hearts win at home to Falkirk, coupled with defeat for Celtic at Motherwell, means the Edinburgh club will become champions for the first time since 1960.
“It’s nice to be able to hear ‘Hearts could win the league at Tynecastle,’” says their manager, Derek McInnes. “I don’t know how many people have been able to say that in their lifetime. The likelihood is we are going to have to win two games or certainly pick up four points.” In a quirk of history, both of Hearts’ titles in the 20th century were secured at St Mirren’s former Love Street ground.
Much more here:
