Joe Hart and Matt O’Riley left in awe of Celtic support on Instagram

Heart of Midlothian was easily defeated by Celtic, who advanced six points clear at the top of the Scottish Premiership, demonstrating their mettle in the title contest.

In spite of a VAR check, Kyogo Furuhashi scored the first goal for the home team in the fourth minute by staying onside and nodding a crisp header past Zander Clark.

As Brendan Rodgers’ team persisted in probing, Matt O’Riley’s deft curling pass allowed Furuhashi to evade two central defenders and finish expertly on the volley, giving the Japanese international his second.

The Parkhead crowd enthusiastically greeted every Celtic tackle and good play in the second half, as Celtic kept up their intensity both on and off the ball to prevent any possibility of Steven Naismith’s team putting up a fightback.

Three minutes before halftime, O’Riley scored a spectacular goal from the penalty spot after Kevin Clancy had given a handball penalty to Lawrence Shankland. This ended what could have been a pivotal day in the Scottish Premiership title contest.

After the game, Rodgers expressed his gratitude to the Celtic supporters for creating a “brilliant” atmosphere that enabled the team to easily defeat Hearts.

“It was very pleasing,” he said. The fans were fantastic for us today, and the stadium exuded a wonderful energy. They immediately took the team behind them, and the players responded.

There was a lot of emotion in the stands yesterday as Celtic moved one step closer to winning the league title for the third time in a row. Depending on how they perform against Kilmarnock, we may have the opportunity to complete this accomplishment at home against Rangers the following weekend.

Joe Hart expressed his gratitude on Instagram after the game, saying he was amazed by the Celtics’ support for the team against Hearts, after his encouraging performance at Parkhead.

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A post shared by Joe Hart (@joehartofficial)

The 37-year-old, who stunned Cammy Devlin and Yutaro Oda by making several vital saves against Hearts, also posted a few photos from the match.

Matt O’Riley’s Instagram post after an amazing performance

Leading the engine room charge, O’Riley also moved to honour the Celtic support, adding his own message that said, “Fun time with you all, paradise was bouncing today (heart eyes and four-leaf clover emojis)” (green heart emoji).

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A post shared by @mattoriley8

The Denmark international put some shine on an incredible display from a personal perspective, as reported by Fotmob. He took on four shots, created four chances, threaded six passes into the final third, and won four duels on the day.

O’Riley’s future is still the subject of much speculation in the media, but he has played with a great attitude and now has 45 appearances in all competitions, with 15 goals and 17 assists [Transfermarkt].