Celtic 0-0 Hearts: Ronny Deila's men frustrated at Parkhead

Celtic blew a chance to move to within two points of Premiership leaders Aberdeen as they could only draw 0-0 at home to promoted Hearts.

Ronny Deila's men looked more likely to score before the break than after it, when they lost their edge and created fewer openings.

As such, they had to settle for a stalemate against an Edinburgh team which ended a run of three consecutive league defeats with a positive result at Parkhead.

In turn, they will have regrets about not being more ruthless given current pacesetters Aberdeen saw their 100 per cent record come to an end in a 2-1 defeat at Inverness.

Celtic had been looking to round off a better week which had seen them win twice already following a league defeat at Aberdeen and a Europa League draw at Ajax when they had been ahead.

They began on the front foot and Kris Commons put an early free-kick wide of the near post before Leigh Griffiths caught sight of goal but shot straight at visiting 'keeper Neil Alexander.

Celtic continued to dominate but Hearts arguably had the best chance in the opening exchanges through striker Juanma Delgado.

He sent a curler at Craig Gordon's goal after being set up by Osman Sow but he was just too high and it remained 0-0.

Back came the hosts through the lively James Forrest, who struck the woodwork with a venomous effort after fine set-up play from Griffiths.

The Scotland winger then set up Tom Rogic who was just off the mark and the same applied to Griffiths before he nodded another attempt straight into Alexander's arms.

Despite their pressure, Celtic were struggling to break Hearts down and Alexander was in the right place again as he got down to save Nir Bitton's long-range drive.

Forrest had another go when his own cross was cleared but his half-volley darted just over the upright and it was goalless at the midway point.

Celtic's tempo dropped after the restart and Deila's players looked a lot less effective when they came forward.

Griffiths sent a free-kick over and Scott Brown fired wide, with a rare Hearts attack ending with Igor Rossi finding the side-netting in between.

Mikael Lustig had a claim for handball turned down on the edge of the box then Commons put a free-kick wide as the hosts began to run out of ideas.

Griffiths put the ball into the net in injury-time after Nadir Ciftci's knock down only to see his goal ruled out for offside.

And Efe Ambrose was sent off for bringing down Sam Nicholson moments later, sacrificing himself with a last-gasp foul to deny the midfielder a clear goalscoring opportunity.

That gave Hearts the chance from the free-kick but Callum Paterson's shot struck the Celtic wall and signalled the end of a frustrating afternoon for the defending champions.