Football: LENNON ON HIS WAY? SCOTTISH PREMIER LEAGUE Hearts 2 Celtic 1 FROM TYNECASTLE Costly gift to Hearts could be skipper's Celtic finale.

Byline: Iain Campbell NO.1 IN SCOTLAND

NEIL LENNON will be hoping that the catastrophic error which handed Hearts a deserved last-gasp Tynecastle victory will not prove to be his last act in a Celtic jersey.

The Celtic skipper's future has a question mark over it after he was left out of the starting line-up for yesterday's clash between last season's top two, with at least one English club considering taking him south.

Lennon buried his head in his hands after a misjudged back pass allowed Roman Bednar to steal in for the second goal which gave the Tynecastle pretenders all three points.

It had seemed that another player whose future would appear to be away from Celtic Park, Stilian Petrov, had earned the champions a slightly fortunate point with a brilliantly worked equaliser.

But with both sides apparently having settled for the draw, the Celtic skipper, who had replaced Kenny Miller midway through the second half, was short with his pass to keeper Artur Boruc.

Bednar, who had been a massive problem for Gordon Strachan's side all afternoon, latched onto the ball ahead of the Pole and slotted it into the net from a wide angle.

In truth it was no more than Hearts deserved because the Czech had earlier been denied a second goal after a poor offside decision.

Bednar's opener shortly after halftime had placed the hosts firmly in charge of the game but the offside decision appeared to turn things in Celtic's favour.

Almost immediately Petrov appeared to present the Celtic support with what would have been a perfect leaving gift.

With the Bulgarian skipper's rumoured departure to link up with old boss Martin O'Neill at Aston Villa looking more likely by the day, the midfielder would have been hoping to depart on a high.

Assistant Gary Cheyne's decision to deny Bednar's second became even more crucial when the equaliser arrived after the best move of the match in the 65th minute.

Miller who was vilified throughout because of his Hibs connection, sent Aiden McGeady, who showed no signs of jetlag after his Japanese adventure, into space on the right and the Irish midfielder squared the ball to Petrov who finished with a sweetly struck curved shot past Craig Gordon.

It was a bittersweet moment for the Celtic fans because the goal may well be the player's last in a green jersey as O'Neill begins to assemble his squad for Villa's imminent Premiership campaign.

Hearts had dominated events to such an extent that Strachan was sent to the stand shortly before half-time following a touchline bust-up which involved Jambos' coach John McGlynn and the Celtic manager's assistant Garry Pendry.

Strachan's misfortune was the only notable event in a first half where the title hopefuls cancelled each other out. Hearts though grabbed the initiative after the break and Bednar had an incredible miss before grabbing his opener.

A beautifully flighted Bruno Aguiar cross was begging to be headed in just six yards from goal, but the Czech miscued his effort and the ball skidded harmlessly wide of the target.

The striker would not be denied and he made amends in the 48th when he strode onto a Michal Pospisil pass which split Celtic's defence and fired the ball into the corner of Boruc's net.

The anger Hearts felt when a further goal was wrongly chalked off just after the hour was compounded when Petrov linked brilliantly with Miller and Aiden McGeady to equalise. Justice though was surely done when Lennon had his moment of madness.

The Irishman, so often a hero for his side, was under no real pressure when he tried to turn the ball back.

Bednar, who had been playing on the shoulder of the Celtic defenders all afternoon, seized his opportunity to send most of the packed stadium into euphoria.

Strachan was not prepared to criticise his skipper, and said: "It was of no importance - it was a blip. "I won't be giving it a moment's thought and he shouldn't either."

The Celtic manager though admitted that his side gave Hearts too many chances on the day. He said: "We could have passed the ball better, that was our downfall. They've got the win because we gave the ball away."

Goal hero Bednar admitted he was more unhappy with his missed header than the offside decision.

He said: "I should have had more goals, I had the chances." The striker admitted he thought the officials had called the offside correctly. He added: "It was so fast I didn't know if the officials had got it right. I thought I was offside but I was told later I was onside."

Bednar believes that Hearts have shown they are capable of winning the league - particularly as the victory came despite the absence of key players like Takis Fyssas, Paul Hartley and Edgara Jankauskas. He said: "We have a very good squad and we can win the title."

Hearts: Gordon, Tall, Pressley, Berra, Wallace, Mikoliunas, Aguiar, Brellier, McCann, Bednar, Pospisil. Celtic: Boruc, Telfer, Caldwell, McManus, Wilson, Nakamura, Jarosik, Petrov, McGeady, Zurawski, Miller.

CAPTION(S):

ROMAN CONQUEROR: Bednar can't believe his luck after pouncing on Lennon's blunder' CZECH ME OUT: Bednar is buried under team-mates and fans after first goal' IN THE FIRING LINE: Lennon suffers abuse from the Hearts fans. Right, Valdas Ivanauskas