The Scottish Premiership title race appears set to be a three-way fight for a little while longer. On Sunday, Celtic were held to a 2-2 draw by leaders Heart of Midlothian at Tynecastle.
Benjamin Nygren broke the deadlock with a stunning free-kick, before Yang Hyun-jun restored the visitors' lead in Gorgie, only for Auston Trusty to be controversially sent off 13 minutes from time. Just as though Martin O'Neill's team appeared set to hold on for a priceless victory, Hearts equalised three minutes from the end thanks to Cláudio Braga.
2-2 it finished, meaning the Jambos remain six points clear of the Hoops. Celtic actually find themselves down in third, after Rangers beat Dundee 3-0 at Ibrox simultaneously. Thus, everything suggests that this will be a title race that goes deep into the season.
Aside from the fact that it was a huge top of the table clash, Sunday's match had added intrigue by virtue of the fact that Celtic had a debutant leading the line, so how did he get on in Edinburgh?
Tomáš Čvančara's Celtic debut
With Kyōgo Furuhashi departing over a year ago, and then Adam Idah sold on deadline day, Celtic have been crying out for a new centre-forward for so long. Thus, the arrival of Tomáš Čvančara was met with plenty of excitement, as well as relief.
The Czech international joins on loan from Borussia Mönchengladbach, with a £7 million option to buy included, meaning every match is an audition of sorts. So, did he impress on debut?
Tomáš Čvančara statistics vs Heart of Midlothian
Statistics | Tomáš Čvančara | Match rank |
|---|---|---|
Assists | 1 | 1st |
Shots | 1 | 4th |
Big chances created | 1 | 1st |
Passes completed | 8 | 21st |
Key passes | 2 | 2nd |
Duels won | 7 | 8th |
Aerial duels won | 4 | 1st |
Touches | 21 | 22nd |
Match rating | 7.0 | 7th |
Well, despite only touching the ball 21 times, before being replaced by Sebastian Tounekti in the 66th minute, Čvančara certainly enjoyed an eventful first appearance in hoops.
His final act on the pitch was to pick up a yellow card for pushing over Stuart Findlay straight after kick off. Before this though, the striker had seen a looping header twack Craig Gordon's upright, as well as teeing up Yang's go-ahead goal, bursting in behind and then picking out the South Korean.
Thus, most were impressed by what they saw from Čvančara on Sunday. He certainly looks like being a major upgrade on Johnny Kenny and the perennially injured Kelechi Ịheanachọ.
The new recruit looks likely to be a threat in the air, which shouldn't be too surprising given that he is 6 ft 3 in tall, as well as a low-touch but high-impact centre-forward. The early signs are that he'll be the focal point number nine this team have been crying out for.
Čvančara is ineligible to feature in Thursday's Europa League decider against Utrecht, but will fancy his chances of opening his goal-scoring account in Scotland against Falkirk next weekend.