AS if written in the stars, it was birthday Bhoy John Hartson who scored the only goal of a league title-clinching win at Celtic Park 14 years ago. The feat was Gordon Strachan’s first as Hoops manager, during a campaign that was also future captain Stephen McManus’ breakthrough season in green and white.

Big Mick, as he was affectionately known by fans and colleagues alike, recalls that afternoon against the Jambos fondly – but it was a different encounter with the Edinburgh side that year that stands out in his memory more.

On New Years Day, 2006, Celtic travelled to the capital and, after just eight minutes, found themselves trailing 2-0. On 55 minutes, Stephen Pearson pulled one back for the visitors, but as the match entered its final five minutes, that goal seemed all but a consolation.

But with just three minutes of normal time remaining, McManus brought the scoreline level. Three minutes into second half added-time, and Big Mick bagged a brace – and the green and white portion of Tynecastle erupted.

“I’m not great at highlighting individual moments, but if I had to pinpoint one, that one is really satisfying,” said an ever-modest McManus, talking to the Celtic View podcast. “It was just a moment that you could never have imagined. Tynecastle was always a difficult place to go to at that time, Hearts were very strong and they came out of the traps that day really well.

“They absolutely battered us in the first 15 minutes, we went 2-0 down, and probably deserved that, maybe even more. But again, with that group of players that we had, they were resilient, and you knew we were always capable of creating chances.

“Thankfully for me, I managed to get two goals, and it was an incredible feeling. Our fans were so close to behind the goal, and when you scored, it was right in front of the fans. I manged to score quite a few goals that season, which was great, but none were as important as those that day.”

McManus said that scoring the equaliser so close to full-time was an incredible feeling, because it made securing a point feel almost certain. To score the winner with even less time remaining, however, was a dream come true.

He added: “I don’t have many photos of my playing days in the house, but there’s one from that day that where I’m stood right in front of the fans with my hands aloft which I love. You can see the emotion and adrenaline on the faces of the fans. It was certainly a moment which put us well on our way to winning our first league title under Gordon.”

McManus recalls a vital win on the road to the 2005/06 title