Hearts dramatically came from behind twice with goals at the end of each half to grab a 2-2 draw with Celtic in a breathless and bruising Scottish Premiership encounter at Tynecastle, yesterday.

Hoops midfielder Nir Bitton opened the scoring in the 42nd minute but Jambos counterpart Sam Nicholson levelled in first-half added time.

Midfielder Tom Rogic restored Celtic’s lead with a wonderful strike in the 70th minute but as the match entered four minutes of added time, Osman Sow’s drive following a short free-kick – which took a deflection – beat Parkhead goalkeeper Craig Gordon.

The visitors were much im-proved from last week’s 2-1 home defeat to Motherwell but are now only one point ahead of Aberdeen at the top of the table, albeit they have played a game less than the Dons.

A mistake by Hearts defender Blazej Augustyn allowed Celtic midfielder Callum McGregor to play in the unmarked Bitton and he settled himself before slipping the ball past Neil Alexander.

It looked like the Hoops would go into the interval ahead but soon after three minutes of added time had been signalled on the board, a cross from the right from Prince Buaben to the back post was knocked in by the determined Nicholson who jousted with Celtic stand-in skipper Mikael Lustig.

As they had been at the start of the match, Celtic were in top gear after the break and went ahead again after Lustig’s cross fell to Bitton who set up Rogic and from the edge of the box he curled a wonderful left-footed shot high past Alexander.

Hearts were facing defeat but as the match moved into added time, after Forrest tripped King 25 yards from goal, Buaben slipped the ball to Sow and his drive ended up behind the keeper to stun Celtic and delight the home fans.