Image by Getty Images via Daylife
Rangers' Maurice Edu came off the bench to put what could be a final nail into Celtic’s Scottish Premier League title hopes, as the American stabbed home late into injury time to put his side one step closer to the title.
The first half started, as usual with Glasgow derbies, at 100mph with both Old Firm new boy Robbie Keane and Rangers' talismanic striker Kris Boyd coming close within the first two minutes of the game.
After that the game continued at a frantic pace with both sides looking to attack each other’s defence as quickly as possible. That ultimately created problems for under pressure referee Dougie McDonald who issued two yellow cards within the first ten minutes, to Marc Antoine Fortune and Madjid Bougherra, with the latter lucky not to see a second card, just minutes later for a cynical challenge.
The next proper chance for Celtic came on the quarter of an hour mark, when a challenge from Sasa Papac on the edge of the area allowed Keane to set up a free kick on the edge of the Rangers area, but the on-loan Tottenham man could do nothing but sail it high into the
From then on the game seemed to break up in the midfield area with both sides unable to find the final ball to unlock the other side’s defence. Halfway through the first half, Rangers caused themselves trouble when Kevin Thomson accidentally kicked team-mate Lee McCulloch on the Achilles. The midfielder, recently called back into Craig Levein’s
The American must have felt in heaven when he found the net with his first touch. But that elation was to be denied when referee McDonald blew for a free kick for a hand ball committed by Kenny Miller seconds before.
Miller was the next to go close, when a through ball from Boyd unleashed the former Celtic man, who worked Artur Boruc, but the Polish keeper was able to recover and keep the scores level.
Celtic were the next to receive some bad luck, when teenage defender Thomas Rogne went down injured after stretching for the ball and had to be replaced at the heart of the Celtic defence by Darren O’Dea.
Rangers continued to put pressure on the visitors' defence, but they could not put Boruc under any real pressure. That allowed Celtic to break and with ten minutes left in the first half it was Keane, who was to make Rangers keeper Allan McGregor work for the first time since the opening minutes, when the Irishman’s powerful strike from the edge of the area was palmed away.
Celtic finally looked to get a proper passing move going in the closing minutes, when a tactical switch by Tony Mowbray, allowed Aiden McGeady and Diomansy Kamara to switch wings and resulted in Fortune having a clear sight of McGregor’s goal, but the striker was left in anguish as he watched his strike go wide of the goal.
Deep into injury time Celtic were put under extreme pressure when a ball through the middle of the Celtic defence by Papac was deflected by Boyd, but the striker was left to rue his luck as both Boruc and the assistant referee cost the Rangers star from opening the scoring when his effort was saved and he was called offside.
The second half started just as the first, with both sides looking to attack. Steven Davis went close after a sweeping cross ball from Kyle Laffert before the home side began to create chances with both Boyd and Lafferty forcing the Celtic defenders into last gasp clearances within seconds of each other.
Davis was unlucky not to open the scoring for Rangers when he had two shots in quick succession, one from the edge of the area and one from just outside the six yard line, both of which were expertly seen away by Boruc, who seemed to be the only way in which Celtic would be able to keep their Old Firm rivals at bay.
Celtic then went on a break, in which they had four against one and that one was Bougherra, who was walking a tightrope having already received a yellow card. But the Algerian expertly took the ball away from Fortune, relieving the pressure on McGregor’s goal and taking away one of Celtic’s best opportunities of the game.
This led to Mowbray deciding to change the shape of his side, taking off the explosive McGeady and bringing on Giorgos Samaras to add more height to his side, as he searched for that elusive goal.
The fireworks then started at Ibrox when Celtic captain Scott Brown was shown a straight red card for putting his head into Lafferty’s chest, leaving Mowbray having to reshape his side once again. The manager opted to bring on Sung Yueng Ki for Fortune, instead of Keane, who had been nursing an injury all week and had not been involved in the second half.
The game became scrappy after the sending off, with both sides unable to create a final ball to open the scoring. But Mowbray’s side couldn’t seem to find the goal that would put them straight back into the title race as they were forced back by the constant pressure that came from the Ibrox side.
That pressure nearly came off, when
With less than ten minutes left, Rangers played one of their best moves of the game, which ended up with Edu having a chance after a superb cross from Papac from the American six yards out. But unfortunately the midfielder saw his strike go over the bar.
Walter Smith’s side maintained their stranglehold upon the game, with a series of corners, forcing Celtic further back. The home side could not take advantage of their numerical advantage, as they found the Celtic backline of both O’Dea and Josh Thompson in superb form, as they looked to protect Boruc in the visitors' goal.
The game was nearly finished off by the home side, when Sasa Papac went close and ultimately got a corner. That corner then lead to a last gasp goal, when both Bougherra and Boyd went close and Edu finally stabbed home to possibly seal another title for the home side.
![Reblog this post [with Zemanta]](http://img.zemanta.com/reblog_e.png?x-id=051da06a-d297-46ac-aab0-4c3b19d9546e)
0 comments:
Post a Comment