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Marius Kižys became the third Lithuanian to earn praise from "Hearts" fans - in front of almost 60 thousand spectators at Edinburgh club on Saturday, he defeated the country's champion Glasgow, and for the first time since the beginning of the match, the 23-year-old player who ran onto the field was elected as the best player of the game.
In this match, "Hearts" were missing the disqualified S. Mikoliūnas, D.Česnauskis, who was tired after the national team's match, had to sit on the bench, and one of the team leaders P. Hartley, who could not play due to yellow cards, was replaced in the middle of the field by M. Kižys.
The guests pushed forward as early as the eighth minute - a penalty kick was awarded on the left side, Kižys made a great pass to the penalty area, and although the attempt by A. Webster was denied by the "Celtic" goalkeeper, L. Miller sent the rebound into the net.
Although the hosts soon responded with dangerous attacks, in the 19th minute "Hearts" managed to score the second goal - after L. Miller's pass, defender S. Henchoz and M. Burchill missed the ball, and Burchill seized his opportunity and doubled the lead.
At the beginning of the second half, "Celtic" pressed the opponents and had several chances to score, but after an hour of play, the result almost became crushing when Kižys received a pass on the left side of the field and shot just wide of the post.
Despite this dangerous attack, "Celtic" played more successfully and "Hearts" coach J. Robertson decided to replace the excellent Kižys with M. Stewart in the 71st minute. The guests held on for the rest of the match and secured a sensational victory.
However, this victory did not have a greater impact on the league table, as "Hearts" opponents in the fight for third place both also added three points to their account - "Hibernian" snatched a victory with a score of 3-2 in a match against "Dundee Utd", and "Aberdeen" won away with a minimal margin against "Inverness CT".
In other matches, "Dundee" won against "Kilmarnock", while "Dunfermline" with Andrius Skerla, who played the entire match, drew with "Livingston" and dropped to tenth place. Meanwhile, after "Celtic" loss, the initiative in the fight for the champion's title went to "Rangers", although in order to return to the top spot, they will need to defeat "Motherwell" tomorrow.
