Celtic 5-0 Heart of Midlothian, SPL, 13 May 2012

It wasn’t the sun-drenched afternoon in Paradise we all hoped it would be, but it was a memorable day as Celtic comfortably beat Hearts before being presented with the Scottish Premier League trophy which they won five weeks ago. Gary Hooper scored his third Celtic hat-trick in the first half, and came close to his fourth in the second, as he scored all five goals, becoming the first Celtic player to hit five goals in a single match since Dixie Deans scored six against Partick Thistle in 1973.
Neil Lennon made three changes to the team which lost to Dundee United last week, with Glenn Loovens, Victor Wanyama and Georgios Samaras taking the places of Thomas Rogne, Mikael Lustig and Anthony Stokes.
Hooper was caught offside early on, and it wouldn’t be the last time, with the flag being raised against Celtic players a suspiciously high number of times. Nevertheless, Celtic’s number 88 opened the scoring just a minute later. Emilio Izaguirre’s cross fell to Kris Commons, who turned and fired in a shot. Hearts keeper Jamie MacDonald made the save, but couldn’t hold it, and Hooper tapped in for 1-0. Hooper won a free kick soon afterwards, and Commons went for goal with it, but MacDonald kept it out this time. Joe Ledley then played a pass in-field to Samaras, who beat two men and probably could have scored himself, but he squared to Hooper, who had possibly an easier tap-in than for his first. It was 2-0 before eight minutes had elapsed.
Hearts never really got themselves into the game. With the Scottish Cup Final against Hibernian next week, they probably had at least one eye on that, and they had little to play for in the league. They couldn’t catch Dundee United in fourth place, and could only slip to sixth if they lost and St Johnstone beat Rangers. Even so, they would have been keen to avoid an embarrassing scoreline, and it nearly got worse for the visitors when Charlie Mulgrew’s free kick curled around the wall and headed for the goal, but MacDonald managed to scramble it around the post. Another dangerous Izaguirre cross found Hooper, who was again judged offside, as were Commons and Samaras soon afterwards. Celtic threatened from a few corners and free kicks, but there was little urgency about the attacks, as the game looked over at 2-0. Then a quick one-two between Mulgrew and Joe Ledley ended with the Welshman being updended inside the box by Hearts defender Arvydas Novikovas, and Celtic were duly awarded a penalty. Scott Brown had taken - and scored -  every Celtic penalty since January, but he agreed to let Hooper take this one as he was on a hat-trick. His spot-kick record for the Hoops wasn’t great (one scored, one saved, one missed, all against Hibernian) but he converted this one simply enough, powering it straight down the middle. In the closing moments of the first half, Scott Brown reacted angrily to a shove from Danny Grainger, and both were booked.
Adam Matthews had a lively start to the second half, bursting forward from right back and hitting the side netting with a shot, looking for his first Celtic goal. He then sent in an inviting cross, which was held by MacDonald. Commons then delivered an excellent free kick, and Samaras should really have scored, but he failed to connect by inches. Commons then had a go himself from inside the box, but couldn’t hit the target. With 65 minutes played, he played a pass through for Hooper, on which Marius Zaliukas got a touch, but it wasn’t enough. Hooper took plenty of touches as he rounded the keeper, then slid the ball home, despite the best efforts of Andy Webster, for his and Celtic’s fourth goal of the day. It was his 50th competitive goal for Celtic since arriving nearly two years ago.
A huge round of applause was then sent up from Parkhead, as Brown was withdrawn and Beram Kayal made his first appearance since December, when he was taken off injured. He quickly got stuck into the action, penalised for a foul on Gary Glen less than two minutes later. Joe Ledley also left the field to be replaced by Paddy McCourt, then ten minutes later Stokes came on for Commons. Between the substitutions, Hearts managed a rare shot at goal, which was blocked easily by Samaras. The Greek was the architect again, making a run up the right wing and expertly placing the pass to Hooper. He only needed one touch to steer it into the bottom corner for his fifth. He could well have had a sixth as well, as he was onside and through on goal, but McCourt’s long pass upfield was a little too long.
There were plenty of celebrations after the match, with Neil Lennon addressing and thanking the Celtic fans for their excellent backing throughout this season and last, and the entire Celtic first-team squad took to the field in the Hoops and did a lap of honour with the SPL trophy, which had finally come home. 

Man of the Match - Gary Hooper. None of his goals were especially brilliant, and all had an air of simplicity about them, but it takes a special player to get into those positions as often as he does. He’s improved a lot since coming to Glasgow; last season he would probably have been offside for two or three of them. Nobody’s expecting five goals every game, but if he can play even half as effectively as he did today, on a more consistent basis, then he can be a huge success for Celtic at home and abroad next season.