It is almost impossible to convey what a category error that was. The 397th meeting of these sides was cosmically important to both sets of fans.
For the home support, it was an existential drama. The tangled wreckage left by Craig Whyte, who took control from Sir David Murray in May last year and ran this world famous football name into the ground in February, is not quite a write-off, but the threat of extinction is still tangible.
That such a fate has enveloped one of the combatants in the world's most enduring and fiercely contested rivalry has been the source of celestial joy to the other. "We're Rangers till we die," bellowed the bluenose majority at Ibrox. "You're Rangers till July," boomed back from the green ranks.
The one outcome wholly discounted beforehand was that Rangers could inflict a rout upon the runaway league leaders. Yet with only 13 minutes remaining, it was on the cards that Celtic could be thoroughly humiliated, reported The Daily Telegraph
By that stage they were 3-0 down and reduced to nine men, with their manager also having been dismissed in the tunnel at half-time.
The Hoops fans had promised for weeks that they would stage a celebratory party at Ibrox and they sustained their cacophony for the first 10 minutes despite mounting evidence that Celtic had not turned up for the supercharged occasion.
Ally McCoist had sprung a strategic surprise which worked almost flawlessly. Celtic's full-backs - Adam Matthews and Cha Du Ri - looked unnerved by the boldness with which Steven Whittaker and Lee Wallace pressed them from midfield.
Exquisite technique by Aluko forced the breakthrough when he snaked past Joe Ledley, Thomas Rogne and Charlie Mulgrew before trimming his finish between Fraser Forster and the goalkeeper's right hand post.
Wallace's next thrust triggered the first contentious incident when he was pulled back by Cha just short of the Celtic penalty area. Calum Murray construed this is as denial of a clear goalscoring chance and sent the South Korean packing. Rangers, though, were unable to add to their advantage before the break.
Lennon did not return to his station by the side of the pitch for the restart. It turned out that he had been prohibited from doing so by Murray as he made his way back down the tunnel and the Celtic manager did not take a seat in the directors' box, having evidently been advised that his safety could not be guaranteed.
He watched the rest of the proceedings on TV in the press room as Victor Wanyama was shown the red card for a flailing challenge on Whittaker and then Rangers doubled their margin when Forster blocked from Wallace - looking offside - but could not thwart the follow-up shot from substitute Andrew Little.
When Wallace played a one-two with Davis and struck an angled effort beyond Forster within four minutes Celtic looked close to collapse, but Rangers had drained their batteries and in a sudden, astounding switch of fortune they found themselves on the ropes when Carlos Bocanegra was dismissed for toppling Samaras inside the box and Brown converted the penalty kick.
Rogne then headed home a Kris Commons free-kick in injury time, but the clock had run out.
Not, though, the coruscating passion from the stands which caused the stadium to shudder and heave. Rangers had averted the nightmare scenario of losing their title to Celtic at Ibrox and losing four consecutive home games for the first time, but the final surreal touch was that both supports were celebrating as the depleted group of players departed in affable companionship. AGENCIES
0 comments:
Post a Comment