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What a phoney war this proved to be. Eighty-four minutes into the Old Firm derby came its first booking, for the Rangers interim manager Barry Ferguson. Long before then, it had become apparent Rangers and Celtic would be pretty content to settle for a point each. These sides swung and comprehensively missed at each other for much of the 97 minutes played. This was no clash for the purist.
Celtic may be the happier when dust settles. They avoided three successive league defeats to their oldest foes – a feat Rangers last achieved in 1996-97 – and recovered from a goal behind. Celtic were the better team in the second period but Rangers always carried a counterattacking threat. Hamza Igamane and Nicolas Raskin should have done better when afforded late chances to win this for the hosts. Ferguson and his staff also appealed wildly but in vain for a penalty, nine minutes from time.
Leon Balogun’s header, which clipped the Celtic crossbar inside 90 seconds, hinted at a thrilling encounter which was never to materialise. Rangers thought they had opened the scoring in the 25th minute, only for the VAR to determine Raskin was offside when meeting a James Tavernier free kick.
Events at both ends within a minute meant Rangers held the interval lead. Adam Idah was never convincing when sent through on goal by Reo Hatate. Liam Kelly in the Rangers goal duly saved Idah’s effort. In Rangers’ next attack, Cyriel Dessers held off the overly lame attentions of Liam Scales before slotting a low finish beyond Viljami Sinisalo.
There were traces of controversy attached to Celtic’s equaliser. Idah’s shot, which deflected off John Souttar, was originally ruled out on the basis Daizen Maeda was offside during the buildup. After typically lengthy deliberation, the VAR determined Maeda was onside and his position as Idah shot was irrelevant to the status of Kelly in the Rangers goal.
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Both teams rather huffed and puffed from there. For all their possession, Celtic did not suitably test Kelly. Rangers have now gone six games in succession without winning. Ferguson is yet to taste victory at home. Celtic’s claiming of the title last weekend meant they could leave Ibrox with spring in step.
