Idah bags brace off the bench as Celtic overcome Hearts

Republic of Ireland striker Adam Idah scored twice after coming off the bench as Celtic overcame a shaky first-half display to defeat Hearts 4-1 at Tynecastle and move three points clear of Aberdeen at the top of the William Hill Premiership.

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The Cork native replaced Kyogo Furuhashi, who opened the scoring in the second half with 15 minutes remaining with the score at 2-1.

Within three minutes of his introduction he found the back of the net when he slotted beyond the exposed Hearts goalkeeper Craig Gordon from 12 yards out after being played in by fellow sub Paulo Bernardo

He put the result beyond doubt with a stoppage-time penalty after Jorge Grant fouled James Forrest for his fourth league goal of the season.

The Hoops were off the pace in the first half and looked at risk of a first domestic defeat since they lost on their last visit to Tynecastle almost nine months previously, but their class shone through after the break despite a consolation strike from home sub Musa Drammeh.

The Parkhead side have now won six matches in a row in all competitions ahead of their Champions League showdown at home to Club Brugge on Wednesday.

Hearts - who coincidentally travel to Belgium to face Cercle Brugge in the Conference League the following evening - made one change to the team that lost 1-0 away to Rangers before the international break as Beni Baningime replaced Kenneth Vargas.

Celtic made two changes from their 2-0 win at Kilmarnock as Ireland team-mates Liam Scales and Idah made way for Cameron Carter-Vickers and Kyogo.

Hearts - second bottom of the Premiership - started brightly and Blair Spittal got himself clear just inside the box in the second minute after a clever one-two with Lawrence Shankland but his