Celtic 1 Rangers 0:IT IS unclear what Neil Lennon will cherish the most from this success. It seems hard to believe that Celtic's manager cut such a worried figure in the not so distant past.
A ninth SPL win in a row, one which atones for a deserved defeat for Celtic at Ibrox in September, means Lennon’s team will sit two points clear of their oldest foes entering the new year. Joe Ledley was Lennon’s derby hero, with the game’s only goal.
For Rangers, there was a grievance to rub salt into the wound of defeat. An early header from Lee Wallace was adjudged not to have crossed the Celtic goalline, something Glasgow’s blue half will point out in inevitable future discussions about referees and the Old Firm.
Celtic’s biggest danger here seemed to be the prospect that they would wilt under the weight of expectation.
Rangers’ lead in the league stood at 15 points in early November; Celtic held two matches in hand at that juncture, but the form of Lennon’s team over the intervening weeks has been admirable.
The home support arrived at the season’s second Glasgow derby sensing Rangers’ vulnerability, as highlighted by a weekend defeat at St Mirren.
Yet Ally McCoist’s team selection endorsed the manager’s confident pre-match sentiment. McCoist surprisingly deployed a winger, Sone Aluko, and two strikers in Kyle Lafferty and Nikica Jelavic.
Within seven minutes the visitors came about as close as they could to taking the lead in the kind of incident which is not readily forgotten in this city.
It will, in fact, trigger claim, counterclaim and conspiracy theories for months. Aluko crossed for Wallace at the back-post. The former Hearts player’s header was clawed on to a post by Fraser Forster. Television replays showed the whole ball appeared to have crossed the line before the goalkeeper’s intervention.
In the defence of the assistant referee, George Drummond, Forster’s body would have blocked his view of the affair.
A Celtic penalty claim followed immediately when Kyle Bartley appeared to block a Georgios Samaras attempt with a hand.
During a high tempo first-half spell, Scott Brown and Gary Hooper both tested the Rangers goalkeeper Allan McGregor.
Celtic’s territorial dominance was offset by their apparent weakness in defence. Carlos Bocanegra almost highlighted that, the defender failing to connect properly at close range after Jelavic headed an Aluko corner down into his path. Bocanegra’s only mitigating circumstance for a dreadful attempt is that, as a centre back, he is not accustomed to being in such positions.
As ever, it was frantic, raucous and pulsating. Rangers’ showing in the opening period would have been a pleasant surprise to their followers.
Celtic’s talented young winger James Forrest, shadowed at every turn by at least two opponents, had been unable to impose himself on proceedings to the level Lennon would have hoped. Frustratingly for Forrest, he found himself in several promising positions without being able to capitalise.
An excellent block by Bartley denied Samaras five minutes after the re-start. A rejuvenated Forrest was next to try his luck, but McGregor denied the 20-year-old.
From the subsequent corner Celtic took the lead.
Charlie Mulgrew supplied the set play, from which Ledley rose impressively to head home. For Rangers, a team which prides itself on excellent organisation, it was a sloppy goal to concede.
For Ledley, deployed as an emergency left back rather than in his preferred position of midfield, the goal was just reward for his versatility.
With little over half an hour to play, the ominous aspect for McCoist was a lack of alternative personnel. A glance at the Rangers subs list offered little explanation as to how the visitors could haul themselves back into the game. Even more striking in this volatile environment was the fact it took 59 minutes for the first booking to arrive, Bocanegra the recipient.
A more dubious act of officialdom halted Celtic’s quest to double their lead. Hooper, sent through by Beram Kayal, was penalised for being offside when he looked anything but.
Kayal collected a nasty injury when challenging for a loose ball with McCulloch and Thomas Rogne, leaving proceedings on a stretcher.
David Healy, brought from the Rangers bench to try to add attacking impetus to McCoist’s team, instead prompted fury in the Celtic ranks with a wild tackle on Forrest. That was as menacing as Rangers got in the closing stages.
CELTIC: Forster, Matthews, Rogne, Mulgrew, Ledley, Brown, Kayal (Ki, 77), Wanyama, Forrest, Samaras, Hooper (Stokes, 86). Subs not used: Zaluska, Kelvin Wilson, Cha, Bangura, McCourt. Booked: Stokes.
RANGERS: McGregor, Broadfoot, Bartley, Bocanegra, Papac, Aluko (Wylde, 66), McCulloch (Edu, 79), Davis, Wallace (Healy, 79) Jelavic, Lafferty. Subs not used: Alexander, Weir, Edu, Fleck, Bendiksen. Booked: Bocanegra, Healy, Lafferty.
Referee: W Collum.
