It was like a scene from Scotch and Wry on Sportscene last night with Neil McCann as the Rev IM Jolly trying to put a brave face on Celtic closing in on their 12th SPFL title success in the last 13 seasons.
Joining him in mourning were Steven EBT Thompson and James Dishwater McFadden trying to fake enthusiasm over a match that had delighted 60,000 fans earlier in the day elsewhere in Glasgow.
Pain was written all over the BBC Scotland experts as they fronted up over an outstanding Celtic performance that opened a six point lead at the top of the SPFL Premiership.
Hearts had played their part for the best part of 30 minutes but the comparison between Lawrence Shankland and Kyogo Furuhashi isn’t favourable on the Hearts skipper.
Against the bulk of SPFL sides Shankland can look impressive, he has some awareness and knows how to cash in when defenders fail to do their job as this season’s goal tally illustrates.
Kyogo is different gravy. His movement, link up play and finishing are of the quality that Shankland and McCann can only dream of.
Two one touch finishes in the first 22 minutes of yesterday’s match put Celtic on course for victory with McCann accusing Nick Walsh on VAR duty of lending a helping hand to the hoops.
Watching his misery on Sportscene last night the Daily Record reports the former Dundee boss saying:
I think they have just guessed that big Zander’s (Clark) foot is there but I want to give the advantage to the attacker. I am going to let that one go, which will please all the Celtic fans who are at home listening.
The whole thing for me is that if Hearts are so resolute at set pieces, how can they take their eye off someone like Kyogo and not pick him up is a concern and they were duly punished.
If there was any guesswork involved BBC Scotland would be all over it led by the chunky cheerleaders that are Kenny Macintyre and Tom English, trying to keep a lid on their title despair in the Radio Scotland studio. Seeing McCann’s pained expressions trying to fake enthusiasm is all the pleasure that Celtic fans tuning in to Sportscene require, his views are known in advance, just like his EBT colleague Thompson.
McCann’s bitterness would be understandable at the time of the decision, more than four hours later it only highlighted his hurt and anger over Scotland’s most successful team hitting form and increasing their lead at the top of the table.
The former Hearts and Rangers winger has been having a tough time personally this year with another costly defeat to HMRC resulting in a hefty bill needing to be paid. Recently he has stepped up his media work with Go Radio now benefitting from his expert opinion.
McCann is also a Senior Football Consultant for the Storm SportX Agency which has James Tavernier among their clients.
CLICK HERE for Celtic fans celebrate in Santa Ponsa.
