Steven’s wonder Lenny’s blunders
McGregor the hero for Gerrard as dodgy defence proves to be Achilles’ heel for Celts boss once more
IT was a day that started with Rangers looking back in sorrow and ended with them staring at a future that will almost certainly see them end Celtic’s decade of domestic dominance.
Both clubs marked the 50th anniversary of the Ibrox Disaster with dignity and the utmost respect before returning to the here and now.
Given that they went into the game 16 points behind, albeit with three games in hand, that meant that Celtic had to win. Or at the very least not lose.
While they were the better team for much of the contest, lose they did. That’s three Old Firm defeats on the bounce now and they were played off the park in one before that run started but managed to win the League Cup final last December.
This time the level of performance was better but they still couldn’t beat Steven Gerrard’s team, who were miles off their best but found a way to win.
There was something Walter Smith-esque about the victory.
Rangers survived a battering in the opening half hour and just as Smith would rely on Andy Goram to bale his team out when needed as the Ibrox club won their nine-in-a-row, Gerrard has a goalkeeper of similar standing in Allan McGregor as he bids to stop Celtic going one better.
McGregor made a fabulous save to deny Odsonne Edouard in only the second minute, beat out a goalbound effort from Leigh Griffiths a little later and then saved the best for last with an unbelievable flying leap to his right to touch a strike from the same player on to his righthand post.
It was a match- winning performance from the 38-yearold and certainly kept his team in the game long enough for them to take advantage of Celtic’s inability to defend properly when the moment arose.
This has been Lennon’s Achilles’ heel all season and it resurfaced when Nir Bitton got caught on the hop by James Tavernier’s ball in behind for Alfredo Morelos.
The Israeli’s rugby tackle to haul the Colombian to the floor was a red card all day long, despite Lennon’s protestations, because Morelos was angling in on goal and would have got a shot away.
That was Celtic’s first mistake and to be fair, they’d kept Rangers at arms’ length up until then and protected Vasilis Barkas so well that he hadn’t had a save to make.
Their second error was to lead to the loss of the goal that has very likely killed off their 10-in-a-row dream. eam.
Yet again, it was a failure to defendfend a corner that undid them, as it has done so often this season. ason.
Luck deserted rted Celtic as the final touch came offoff Callum McGregor’s gor’s arm and flew into nto the net, but there ere was nothing ng unlucky about ut their backline ne allowing Joe e Ar i b o f i r st t contact with h Tav er ni e r ’ s corner at the front post.
That kind of thing has happ e n e d time and again this season and is one of the reasons Lennon’s team will almost certainly finish second this season.
The other, of course, is Rangers’ relentlessness. Some 22 games played, 20 wins, two draws and two defeats is simply ridiculous, as is this defensive record of having conceded only five goals in the league all season.
At Ibrox, they’ve had 10 clean sheets in 11 games and even though Celtic pushed them to the limit at times, their resolve to keep the ball out of the net made up for their deficiencies further up the pitch.
There were plenty on the day. Celtic’s midfield was hungrier and more dynamic for most of the match.
Ismaila Soro justified his selection in front of Scott Brown and was snapping into challenges at one end of the diamond, with David Turnbull supporting Edouard and Griffiths at the top end.
On the sides, Ryan Christie and McGregor were winning their battles against Aribo and Glen Kamara, who with Steven Davis, were outnumbered and for the most part outpowered.
The midfield couldn’t link with the front three and it was only when Ianis Hagi came on for Kemar Roofe at the break that
any kind of fluency and rhythm came into Rangers’ play.
That resulted in a more even second half until Bitton’s moment of madness swung the game Rangers’ way.
Although Celtic were unhappy with the sending-off, the fact is Bobby Madden could have sent Shane Duffy packing for taking out Ryan Kent as the big sub lumbered his way through another calamitous display.
By then, Rangers were a goal and a man up and well on their way to seeing the game out, although Moi Elyounoussi did hit a dipping shot on to the roof of the net as Celtic searched the one moment that might have kept the title race alive.
It didn’t come and while there were plenty of positives to take from their performance, any optimism will be punctured if any of their players had a glance at the league table on their way to Glasgow Airport for their mini-break in Dubai.
Even if Lennon’s men win every game between now and the end of the campaign – and that’s a massive IF – Rangers would have to lose four of their last 16 matches. Given that they’ve lost none of their first 22, the chances of that happening are pretty close to zero as well.
Celtic played like the team which had to win the game. There was ana edge, an eagerness, to their work that set them th out as the more desperate de team.
In the past, that would wo have been enough en to win this fixt fixture but Gerrard’s team have their number now. now At the moment that number num stands at 19.
While W that number almost almo certainly will be whittled whitt down as Celtic tick offof their games in hand, their hhopes of clawing it all back arear just about finished.
Tavernier Taver isn’t quite ready to lift theth Premiership trophy but he’s got one hand on it.