Hearts head coach Valdas Ivanauskas conceded the SPL title to Celtic after seeing his side lose 2-1 to the leaders despite taking an early lead.
"It's very difficult now," said Ivanauskas. "We're five points behind Rangers and our target is second place.
"It was very frustrating and I think we deserved something from the game.
"Celtic are a clever and experienced team and we needed to score a second goal. We made a couple of mistakes and they scored two goals."