The time was 18 minutes to five o'clock. Over the Tannoy came the announcement that "today's attendance is 59,896, that's 59,896." It is an impressive figure no matter how many times one sees or hears it and Celtic fans are rightly proud of it. On Saturday its disclosure was met by a vast, yawning silence.

Four minutes earlier Colin Cameron had converted the penalty that ensured Hearts's third away win of the season and the numbers that really mattered to the mute audience were Celtic 2, Hearts 3. The embarrassing fact is that with 16 games of the season remaining Rangers's lead in the championship is already felt to be unassailable.

"If we play like that we'll be lucky to finish second," was one of several telling comments made by John Barnes.

Not many surrenders have been this meek. Thus this game became an emblem of Celtic's season. As Barnes was to admit, even the bright beginning held a contradiction. Hearts, in the shape of the former Celt Darren Jackson, had created the first danger.

Yet the visitors' threat was an unconfident one, after all they were the same players who were 2-0 down to Stenhousemuir the previous Saturday, and they soon retreated. As a consequence Celtic were allowed to rumble forward.

In a midfield that contains the sizeable frames of Johan Mjallby and Stilian Petrov, rumble is the word. Yet Petrov, Barnes was to say, was Celtic's best performer and Mjallby, for all his limited credibility as a footballer, did supply the pass which Lubo Moravcik spun onto and whipped past Antti Niemi in the 18th minute.

Mark Viduka then missed from 10 yards, but before the half-hour was reached Viduka had dived to head in Moravcik's volleyed cross following some quite abysmal defending by Steven Pressley. "I don't know what Elvis was doing," the Hearts's manager Jim Jeffries said.

Unconvincing, perhaps, but Celtic were two goals up. Hearts quivered. "The reason we were two goals ahead was because we played as a team," Barnes said. "Then some individuals took it upon themselves to try something special. I'm not interested in individuals, I'm interested in the team. At Liverpool the team was full of starlets, but the team was the star."

While everyone assumed Barnes's unspoken annoyance centred mainly on Eyal Berkovic, the manager then mentioned the "stupid back-heel" Petrov attempted 10 minutes after half-time. Cameron was not fooled by it and ran 50 yards unchallenged before setting up Gary Naismith's sweetly-struck equaliser.

In its unimpeded manner it was reminiscent of Cameron's first 20 minutes earlier. Then Jackson's pass split the Celtic backline with astonishing ease and left Cameron free to place the ball beyond Jonathan Gould.

It was Hearts's first goal at Parkhead for three years. Celtic shoulders drooped, the forced camaraderie of their pre-match huddle a distant memory. Hearts were so bad, though, that Viduka missed a sitter three minutes before halftime.

That would have quelled the mounting green anxiety. Instead Hearts received renewed belief and after Naismith's shot Cameron's midfield activity was always likely to set up the visitors' first win here for eight seasons. Sure enough, Cameron supplied Fitzroy Simpson and when his cross was met by Jackson, substitute Tommy Johnson delivered an unnecessary push. Gould got a hand on Cameron's penalty, but it was not enough.

Not good enough was Berkovic's overall judgment on Celtic. "At the moment we don't deserve to win the championship," Berkovic said. "If you are wanting Rangers to lose then you don't deserve it. Rangers are the best team. They play at their best level every week. Collectively we haven't played well. This has been a very difficult six months. But my ambition is to stay here, to win the title and then go to the Champions' League. Believe me, I will stay five years."

At last some Celtic defiance, though Berkovic rather undermined it by saying that if Manchester United or Juventus made an offer then he would be off. That means he is likely to remain. On this evidence Brechin would not bid for Berkovic or any of his colleagues.

Celtic: Gould, Riseth, Stubbs, Boyd, Mahe (Blinker 74), Petrov, Healy, Mjallby (Johnson 62), Berkovic (Burchill 62), Viduka, Moravcik. Subs Not Used: Kerr, Petta. Booked: Petrov. Goals: Moravcik 18, Viduka 28.

Hearts: Niemi, Pressley, Murray, Petric, Naysmith, Flogel, Cameron, Simpson, Tomaschek, Jackson (Adam 85), Wales (Kirk 85). Subs Not Used: Rousset, Makel, Severin. Booked: Simpson, Petric. Goals: Cameron 31, Naysmith 55, Cameron 83 pen.

Referee: John Rowbotham (Scotland).