Celtic 1–2 Hearts: Nancy sees positives despite defeat in Hoops debut | OneFootball

Wilfried Nancy began his reign as Celtic manager with a 2‑1 home defeat against Heart of Midlothian in the Scottish Premiership on Sunday.

Celtic started brightly, with Kieran Tierney setting up Daizen Maeda, but his shot failed to trouble Hearts’ goalkeeper Alexander Schwolow.

Hearts took the lead against the run of play just before the break, with Claudio Braga picking out the bottom corner.

The Hoops started the second half on the front foot, but their hopes of drawing level suffered a setback when Oisin McEntee doubled Hearts’ lead.

Tierney eventually pulled one back for Celtic in the stoppage time, scoring the first goal under Nancy.

Nancy told Celtic’s official website: “We had a good first half. We could have been cleaner in the final third because we had opportunities, but we missed a bit of the final pass and execution.

“I saw some really good things in terms of the mentality and intensity, but now we need to be cleaner when the moment comes.

“This isn’t the result that we wanted, but I saw good things and also some things that we need to improve.”

The defeat leaves the reigning champions three points behind table-toppers Hearts, although they have a game in hand.

Nancy will now look ahead to Thursday’s Europa League clash with Italian side Roma, hoping to secure his first win as Celtic boss.