Duffy woe on red-letter day for Rangers

ONE swallow might not make a summer, but the arrival of a second suggests that a breeding season could be at hand. Rangers’ success in the first Old Firm derby of the season – and indeed of 2020 – was impressive and merited, but they have been here before and know the disappointment of a mishandled aftermath.

When Steven Gerrard and his players posted their first win for nine years at Celtic Park last December, the assumption was that they had a plausible chance of stopping their arch-foes equalling the record of nine successive title wins.

Instead, they floundered after the winter break and could not muster back-to-back league wins before the Covid-19 shutdown in March.

Whatever else shredded their self-belief, Rangers were undermined by the suspension of their top scorer, Alfredo Morelos, who incurred a needless caution for simulation in injury-time of that December derby.

Without hostile crowds to bait him this season, the Colombian has not been sent off, but this is a man who spent much of his energy on Saturday engaged in futile feuds with Scott Brown and Shane Duffy.

Morelos cuffed Brown’s head in an incident off the ball which was missed by the match officials, but not the TV cameras, a detail which will likely trigger the interest of the Scottish FA compliance officer.

That would be an unwelcome development for Gerrard as he tries to avoid a repeat of their previous inability to exploit a rare advantage over Celtic.

Fortunately for Rangers, while Morelos was engaged in his petty vendettas,

Connor Goldson took on the burden of scoring and contributed a wholly improbable double.

From Celtic’s point of view, the goals they conceded were poorly defended and Duffy will not enjoy watching his part in either of them.

The Irishman’s misjudged step backwards when James Tavernier delivered a free-kick into the Celtic box in the ninth minute meant that Goldson was onside when he headed the opener.

The second goal, 10 minutes after the break, saw Goldson allowed two stabs at the ball in the heart of the Celtic box.

Upshot

The upshot was an inauspicious introduction to the Old Firm derby for Celtic’s five debutants – Vasilis Barkas, Duffy, Stephen Welsh, Diego Laxalt and Patryk Klimala – but had they been excoriated by disenchanted fans in a 60,000 crowd – which would have been the norm in a non-Covid era – the experience would have been searing.

The occasion marked only a second start for Welsh, a Celtic youth graduate, whose inclusion was revealed early on Saturday morning when Neil Lennon’s selection was leaked to social media to the manager’s justifiable anger.

“It was a big day for me, but all that matters is to go and win the game. I’m just gutted we didn’t do it,” said the 20-year-old defender. “You do your shape and that type of thing, but you don’t actually know who is playing until the manager announces the team.

“Everyone gets beaten. You cannot go through a full season and not lose. It happens. We just need to bounce back.” (© Daily Telegraph, London)