Celtic strike late to give Lennon winning start

The Scottish champions had suffered a tumultuous two days as Rodgers left to take charge of Leicester City on Tuesday despite being on course for a third consecutive domestic treble of trophies in Scotland.

Lennon has been drafted in on a caretaker basis until the end of the season and the Hoops remain in pole position for an eighth straight title thanks to substitute Edouard’s injury-time intervention maintaining an eight-point lead over Rangers.

The travelling fans at Tynecastle showed their anger at Rodgers’s decision to jump ship with a banner before kick-off reading: “You traded immortality for mediocrity: never a Celt, always a fraud.”

Celtic had lost on two of their previous three visits to Hearts, but weathered a bright start from the hosts to take the lead on the counter-attack as Oliver Burke burst through on goal and squared for James Forrest to roll into an empty net.

Hearts were then reduced to 10 men when Jamie Brandon saw a straight red card for a raised elbow on Jeremy Toljan just before half-time.

However, the home side levelled 11 minutes after the break when substitute Oliver Bozanic scored from the penalty spot after Kristoffer Ajer tripped Arnaud Djoum.

With Rangers comfortable 4-0 winners over Dundee at Ibrox, the gap at the top was set to be cut to six points as the clock wore down.

But Celtic snatched a huge psychological boost in the title race in stoppage time when Edouard turned home Scott Brown’s cross on the volley to spark wild scenes of celebration from Lennon.

Rangers did at least open up an eight-point lead of their own over Aberdeen in third as former Dundee midfielder Glen Kamara came back to haunt his old side with his first goal for Steven Gerrard’s men to open the scoring in Glasgow.

It was game over inside eight minutes when James Tavernier grabbed the second, while Alfredo Morelos struck his 28th goal of the campaign midway through the first half.

Jermain Defoe’s late strike means Gerrard’s men have now struck 14 goals in their last three games.

Aberdeen suffered a shock 2-0 home defeat to struggling Hamilton at Pittodrie, while fourth-placed Kilmarnock’s match against Motherwell was abandoned due to fog.