Hearts Have Beaten All Teams In The Top Flight For Just The Ninth Time In History
Motherwell were the only team Hearts hadn't defeated this season
After Hearts recorded what could be a crucial late win over Motherwell at Tynecastle today, they kept their spot at the top of the table - three points ahead of Celtic and four clear of Rangers who play tomorrow against Falkirk.
In what has been a season full of records broken for Hearts, today’s victory meant Hearts have now beaten every team in the league this season, after two earlier draws against Motherwell (3-3 and 0-0).
It may not sound that notable an achievement, especially when Rangers have done it 39 times and Celtic 45 times. However it was only the ninth time in their history that the Jambos have done this, and just the third this century. A fairer comparison for Hearts is probably looking at Hibs rather than the Old Firm; and the Hibees have only managed this only three times in history (1896/97, 1947/48 and 1977/78).
CLOSE BUT NO CIGAR
In addition to the nine seasons where Hearts had the beating of everyone at least once, there have been 21 seasons where Hearts were able to beat all but one team in the league. For comparison, Hibs have had 13 such seasons where they failed to record a victory against just one team in the league.
This happened most recently for Hearts in 2017, 2022 and 2024 where a victory over Rangers proved elusive. There were nine seasons in total where Hearts beat everyone in the league except the Gers.
Hearts also beat everyone but Celtic on seven occasions, twice this century; in 2003/04 and 2015/16. Clyde (twice), Falkirk, Third Lanark and Leith Athletic are the other four teams that stopped Hearts completing the set of beating the entire division in a season.
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The irony that Dundee were the last team they beat in 85/86!!!