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The first football match of the year 2006 took place in the Scottish championship - in a tense, unpredictable, and dramatic duel of league leaders, the "Lithuanian" Edinburgh "Hearts" club failed to hold on to a two-goal lead and in the end succumbed to the leading Glasgow "Celtic" team.
Playing away, "Celtic" had a four-point advantage over "Hearts" in the league table, so a victory for the Edinburgh team would have allowed them to reduce the gap to a minimum. From the start of the match, Edgaras Jankauskas and Deividas Česnauskis ran onto the field for the hosts, while Saulius Mikoliūnas had to miss the game due to injury.
The hosts started the match more aggressively and had a great opportunity to score, but Stilian Petrov's header went over the goal. This error cost Glasgow dearly, as soon after in a counterattack, Paul Hartley, free on the side, passed the ball into the penalty area, where E.Jankauskas managed to reach it with his foot and direct it towards the goal with the help of Ross Wallace.
Just two minutes later, "Hearts" doubled their lead - captain Steven Pressley headed home a corner accurately. Soon after Callum Elliott's breakthrough opportunity to further increase the hosts' lead, Rudi Skacel had a chance to rule, but his attempt was weak and goalkeeper Arturas Borucas caught the ball.
"Celtic" began to recover and take control of the game, while the hosts played based on quick counterattacks. The game became more physical, and the referee had to start showing yellow cards - first one was earned by Bobo Balde for fouling D.Česnauskis dangerously close to the goal, and later E.Jankauskas received a card after fouling Stephen McManus.
The attacking duo of "Hearts" E.Jankauskas and C.Elliott played dynamically and constantly tore apart the opponent's defense with technical passes. In one episode, the Lithuanian passed the ball to his partner from a difficult position, who crossed it into the penalty area where R.Skacel was waiting, but he headed inaccurately. Soon after, the young Scot lobbed the ball nicely into the penalty area for R.Skacel to break into, but the Czech's shot was blocked by the goalkeeper.
In the second half, the situation for "Celtic" became even more complicated after the injury to defender S.Petrov, but the replacement Stephen Pearson scored from close range three minutes after a pass from Shaun Maloney to soften the result and restore intrigue.
The revived Glasgow team began to dominate the field, and in the 70th minute, after Shunsuke Nakamura's shot rebounded off Craig Gordon, S.Pearson was the first to reach the ball and hit the post, with S.Maloney scoring on the third attempt, but the goal was disallowed for offside.
In the 76th minute, the hosts were reduced to ten players, as the match referee Takis Fyssas showed a red card for a foul on S.Maloney. With a numerical advantage, "Celtic" pressed even harder and finally equalized in the 87th minute when S.McManus headed the ball into the goal after a penalty kick.
After receiving such a blow, the "Hearts" players could not recover, and at the start of extra time, "Celtic" delivered another blow - another penalty kick was awarded in a similar area, and again the same S.McManus found himself in the midst of the attack and directed the ball into the corner of the goal.
"Hearts" did not give up and went on the attack, but the only opportunity to equalize was missed by the goalkeeper C.Gordon, who failed to deal with the ball successfully and missed the goal. "Celtic" triumphed and gained a seven-point lead over the nearest pursuers.
In the other matches of the 21st round, the defending champions Glasgow "Rangers," who were defending their title unsuccessfully, celebrated a victory with three goals in the second half against "Dundee Utd" in the final quarter of the match.
"Motherwell" rose to sixth place, winning against "Livingston" with a goal scored in the final minute away, pushing them to the bottom position, as the former absolute underdogs "Dunfermline" also won away against "Falkirk."
The match between "Aberdeen" and "Inverness" ended in a goalless draw, and the final round match between "Kilmarnock" and "Hibernian" will be played on Monday.
Results of the 21st round:
3 - 0
68` [1 - 0] Thomas Buffel
83` [2 - 0] Stephen Thompson
86` [3 - 0] Peter Lovenkrands
1 - 2
45` [0 - 1] Mark Burchill
58` [0 - 2] Noel Hunt
68` [1 - 2] Darryl Duffy
1 - 2
29` [0 - 1] Richie Foran
37` [1 - 1] Harald Pinxten
90` [1 - 2] Kevin McBride
0 - 0
2 - 3
6` [1 - 0] Edgaras Jankauskas
8` [2 - 0] Steven Pressley
55` [2 - 1] Stephen Pearson
87` [2 - 2] Stephen McManus
90` [2 - 3] Stephen McManus
76` Takis Fyssas ("Hearts") sent off
League table:
