A Great Sunday

It was an odd day really. There was me telling J I did not want chips with my lunch but she seems determined to use MY Xmas present, my deep-fat fryer, to the maximum so chips it was. I’m sure she also offered me a glass of wine with my meal when she knows I’m (partially) on the wagon in my effort to reduce my 40 gallon drum to a six pack!

Anyway, what I’m trying to say is that as I settled down to watch the second Old Firm match of the season, my conditions could not have been bettered if I’d been in the hospitality suite at the game itself although as they call Celtic Park, Breeze Block Boulevard, that should give you some idea of the type of facilities they offer. Ibrox Park on the other hand – oops – showing my bias again!

And so to the game itself. Rangers went into the match having scored goals for fun over the last few weeks whilst Celtic have stumbled from one game to another, desperately trying to find some form and some way of adapting their usual ‘up and at em’ type of game to the more cerebral football dictated by their relatively new manager, Tony Mobray.

Match Report

Had this game been a boxing match, the referee would have stopped the contest at half time such was the punishment meted out by the Hoops. Celtic’s superiority was so overwhelming in those first 45 minutes that I wasn’t sure who was playing in their goal. Rarely did Rangers get past the halfway line and yet, as often happens in these intense local derbies, you know that anything can happen. A slip by a defender. A blunder by the goalkeeper. A stupid decision by one of the officials. Any one of these can turn the game on its head and indeed, when Fortune, the Celtic forward headed the ball into the net, having outjumped the Rangers goalkeeper, quite fairly as slow motion replays showed, the goal was chalked off, presumably because the official thought the Celtic player had led, unfairly, with his outstretched arm. A let-off for Rangers.

I lost count how many times the Celtic forwards squandered chances in the first half and as the players trooped off for half-time, the pundits on the TV summed it up perfectly. Celtic just had to score given their superiority and Rangers could only improve given their woeful performance in the first 45 minutes.

And sure enough, that wily old fox, the Rangers’ manager Walter Smith, made the required changes in the confines of the ‘away dressing room’ and spurred his troops to a much more cohesive game in the 2^nd half.

As soon as the 2^nd 45 minutes started, Rangers played the game further into Celtic’s territory with the Gers forwards and midfield quartet putting more pressure on their opponents. No longer was the ball being sprayed out to the wings. Those long through balls to the Celtic forwards were stopped and Rangers began to play.

On the game thundered and Celtic continued to miss chance after chance but Rangers too, were wasteful when they got sight of the Celtic goal. It was now anybody’s game albeit Celtic still had an advantage in possession and attempts at goal.

One of the talking points about the Celtic line up was the exclusion of Scot McDonald, the diminutive Australian who is their top scorer. Restricted to the bench from the off, he started to get ready to enter the fray deep into the second half and Rangers fans groaned. Diminutive, (and overweight some would say), he nevertheless made an immediate impact and started to cause trouble in the Rangers defence as soon as he strolled onto the field.

Rangers fans have a love hate relationship with the buzzing Aussie. They loved him when several years ago he scored for Motherwell against Celtic and presented Rangers with the title on the last day of the season (Barry Ferguson, Rangers skipper, dispatched one of the ball boys to get 20 McDonalds from the nearest ‘golden arch’ when he heard of the striker’s winner) but they’ve hated him ever since as he invariably pops up with a goal or two during these tight games.

And so it proved. On 79 minutes, McDonald ghosted in behind the Rangers defence and headed past McGregor. 1-0 and with only 10 minutes remaining it looked bleak for the Gers. But as often happens in the euphoria of impending victory, Celtic’s players took their collective eyes off the ball and from a quite preventable corner, the Rangers midfielder McCulloch powered in and rocketed a header into the Celtic net.

Rangers would have been happy with the point a draw would have given them but Celtic were not and continued to pound away at their opponents’ goal and only a wonder save from the previously fumble-prone Rangers keeper prevented the Celtic victory.

A breathless match from start to finish and a great advert for the Old Firm.