CELTIC saw their lead at the Premiership pinnacle cut to five points following a see-saw weekend.
The champions shed two points in the disappointing goalless draw with Hibs at Easter Road while, 24 hours later at Ibrox, Philippe Clement’s side were heading for defeat against Hearts.
An early headed goal from Lawrence Shankland looked like being enough to give the Edinburgh side a win until James Tavernier was offered a second penalty-kick in the 90th minute to snatch an equaliser.
The home side’s captain, who had struck the woodwork with his first-half award, made no mistake on this occasion and, remarkably, Danilo headed in the winner in the NINE minutes of stoppage time.
CROWDED OUT…Luis Palma finds there is no way through the Hibs defence at Easter Road.
Brendan Rodgers’ side continue their quest for points when St Mirren visit on Wednesday while their nearest challengers play Dundee at Dens Park.
One Parkhead star who is convinced the Hoops are getting stronger is international left-back Greg Taylor who has seen the title kings take maximum points from performances at Pittodrie, Ibrox, Livingston, Fir Park and Tynecastle in five of their first six fixtures on the road this season.
The scoreless stalemate in Leith has been their only stumble in an overall unbeaten league sequence in their bid for a twelfth crown in 13 years.
Eyebrows were raised at the fixture list with only four out of the first 10 matches at home and Taylor admitted: “It has been a tough run. I don’t know about an injustice, you need to play everyone, anyway, home and away.
“But it has definitely been a difficult start. That’s 10 games in the league and eight wins and two draws.
“It could be worse, but, equally, we strive to be perfect and we’ve not quite got what we wanted from Saturday.
“I think the level of performance has gradually been increasing.
CRUNCH…Paulo Bernardo feels the weight of a last-ditch challenge from Hibs’ Jimmy Jeggo while team-mate Luis Palma and Martin Boyle look on on.
“At Hibs, we didn’t find the next level, to kick on and I think we put that down to the first 45 minutes.
“We didn’t get to our levels quickly enough.”
It could have been a different story for Rodgers’ men if James Forrest’s six-yard drive had not thundered against David Marshall’s crossbar with only 10 minutes left to play.
Preparing for the encounter against the Paisley outfit in midweek with a victory and three points a priority, Taylor, speaking to the Scottish Sun, added: “At Celtic, that is the demand.
“Normally, the fans demand wins and they demand an attacking style. I think gradually we have been doing that.
“On Saturday, the fans came in their numbers again and they would have been disappointed to go home without the three points.
“If Jamesie’s one had been just under the bar, we would have managed to get the win.
“But we move on to Wednesday, another difficult game.
“St Mirren got a really strong result at the weekend, so we know it will be difficult again and we need to start that game quickly.”
