The title race is no longer about who is playing the best football.
It is about who can handle the moments.
Every week now carries weight. Every slip feels magnified. Every result sends a ripple through the table and, more importantly, through the mindset of the teams involved. This is the stage of the season where composure wins you titles and frustration can quietly pull things apart.
And this weekend delivered both.
Celtic did their part. A gritty, hard-earned win away at Dundee. The kind of result that keeps momentum alive and belief growing. The kind of result that puts pressure straight back on everyone else.
Because just hours earlier, the door had been left open.
Hearts had the chance to take control again. A trip to Livingston, bottom of the table, looked like the perfect opportunity to strengthen their grip at the top. Instead, it became something else entirely.
A 2 2 draw.
And suddenly, the mood shifted.
On paper, Hearts are still leading. One point clear with six games to go. But in a title race this tight, it is not just about where you are. It is about how you got there. And this felt like a moment that slipped through their fingers.
Derek McInnes knew it.
He tried to keep the bigger picture in view, but the frustration was impossible to fully hide.
“We go a point clear with six games to go, we’re still top of the league and people need to remember that, I’m trying to keep myself in check with that,” he told BBC Sport Scotland.
“It’s a missed opportunity today. We came here with a lot of motivation and a lot of expectation on ourselves but we have to be honest and say that the point was probably all we deserved.
“It might be a really important point come the end of the season, so we’re not going to get too hung up on it.
“It does put more scrutiny on the games coming up and obviously we want to make sure we win the next home game which will be tough enough as well.”
There is a balance in those words.
On one side, a manager trying to stay calm. On the other, a team that knows it let something valuable slip. Because when you come from behind, take the lead, and still fail to win, it leaves a different kind of frustration behind.
And McInnes did not shy away from that either.
“I’m more disappointed than anything because we’d done so much to get ourselves in front and we needed to enjoy being in front a bit more – I think it was seven minutes between both goals.
“We came out second half and we felt the goal was coming. When we were good in the game, we were very good.
“We were polished and connected the game well and looked after the ball well, we were very good and at times in the game we looked like a team at the top of the league.
“But there was just too many moments where we were sloppy, a bit anxious with some of our defending, the gaps were too big between us at times.”
That is the part that stings the most.
Not being outplayed. Not being overwhelmed. But losing control in moments that should have been managed better. A slack pass. A defensive lapse. A goal conceded that never should have happened.
“The second goal is a ridiculous goal to lose, so we’re disappointed with that,” the Hearts head coach said. “You can’t keep pulling yourself off the canvas.”
And while those words were directed inward, there was an underlying message that stretched beyond his own team.
Because this is where the wider picture sharpens.
Celtic went away from home and found a way to win. Again. In fact, after their result at Dundee, it is now Martin O’Neill’s side who hold the best away record in the league.
That is not a small detail in a title race like this.
Hearts, by contrast, are starting to feel the strain on the road. Winless in their last four away matches. All five of their defeats this season have come away from home. It is a pattern that cannot be ignored anymore.
And McInnes knows exactly what people are starting to say.
But he pushed back, firmly.
“There’s no easy games in the league,” he said. “We’ve had a poor 20 minutes at Kilmarnock really and got ourselves behind, but we didn’t do enough to win that game either.
“The last couple we’ve been guilty of losing poor goals and not doing enough to win games. The game at St Mirren was 10 men and then we lose the game at Ibrox and I thought we were very good in the game.
“We’re going to have to be really strong with our home form as we have been all season but there’s no doubting that a couple of big results on the road wouldn’t do us any harm. That’s where we need to try and address it.”
It sounds like a reminder.
But it also sounds like a warning.
Because while Hearts are still top, the momentum is beginning to tilt. Celtic are finding ways to win when it matters. Rangers are keeping pace. And suddenly, the margins feel thinner than ever.
McInnes may be trying to keep himself in check.
But the reality is harder to control.
The title race is tightening.
And after this weekend, it feels like Celtic just applied the pressure that could change everything.