SPL wrap: Lennon incident mars Celtic win

Celtic kept their Scottish Premier League title chances alive with a 3-0 win at Hearts on Wednesday, while Hibernian’s poor run continued.

But Celtic’s trip to Tynecastle on Wednesday will be more remembered for an attack on Celtic manager Neil Lennon as he celebrated his side’s second goal, scored by striker Gary Hooper after 49 minutes.

A man managed to get past ground stewards and the police before running at Lennon and making brief contact with him, but he was quickly thrown to the ground and dragged up the tunnel by stewards and police.

The win will at least raise Lennon’s spirits, with Hooper’s 12th-minute opener crucial in determining the outcome of the match.

After the early goal, Celtic looked settled and 20 minutes later Hearts’ David Obua was given a straight red card to hand the visitors a further advantage.

Hooper’s second just after half-time gave Lennon’s side some breathing space before Kris Commons scored the third and final goal with 12 minutes remaining, just moments after receiving a yellow card for diving.

Commons was booked again for running into the Celtic fans, ensuring both sides ended the match with 10 men on an ugly night for Scottish football.

Celtic now trail table-toppers Rangers by one point with both sides having just one fixture left.

Walter Smith’s side travel to Kilmarnock on Sunday while Celtic host Motherwell.

In other matches, Kilmarnock will finish fifth – regardless of what happens against Rangers – after they claimed a 1-1 away draw at Motherwell.

Steve Jones put the hosts in front after just eight minutes, but Gabon striker Willy Aubameyang secured a point for Kilmarnock with his 49th-minute goal.

Inverness Caledonian Thistle also wrapped up their final spot on the table after a 2-0 home win over Hibernian.

They will finish seventh after goals to Adam Rooney and Nick Ross gave them all three points.

Hibernian will either finish ninth or 10th in a disappointing campaign for the Edinburgh-based outfit, who have won once in nine league games.