Legends' game at Hampden.
It was a game played in a competitive enough spirit
but lacking the real fierce combat of the 'Old Firm'.
There were perhaps 10,000 spectators inside the
ground - but a further estimated 5,000 locked outside
due to the ticket selling points having closed some
ninety minutes prior to kick-off - an absurd decision
considering it was a charity event.
John Greig and Mark Hateley were in charge of the
Ibrox men, Billy McNeil and John Collins their
opposite numbers whilst Willie Young took charge as
Referee, perhaps finding his true level - a game that
even he would be able to keep apace of.
Rangers almost made a lightning start when Mark
Walters curled a shot just wide in the second minute.
Brian Laudrup, demonstrating all the skills that made
him such an Ibrox legend, created space for himself
wide on the left six minutes later, crossing for
Pieter Huistra whose shot was blocked by Jonathon
Gould.
Walters almost brought the house down in twelve
minutes, his chip from the halfway line over the
stranded Gould landing on the roof of the net.
The Light Blues were out to test Gould at every
opportunity - four minutes later Huistra's forty-yard
shot was held by the Celtic goalkeeper.
Such a fixture is normally played in a friendly spirit
- but such a concept is anathema to a bitter, twisted
player like Tom Boyd, who twice within seconds fouled
Gordon Durie and Brian Laudrup. The Dane playfully
offered Boyd his boot, which had come loose due to the
ferocity of the challenge - but Boyd flung it away,
and found himself on the receiving end of a lecture
from the referee in seventeen minutes.
Four minutes later Gould rescued Celtic once again
with a one-handed save from a Durie shot from a
Laudrup cross.
Celtic finally crossed the halfway line in 24 minutes
- a Collins shot from twenty yards being just wide of
the target.
Laudrup was a constant threat - on the half-hour his
turn and shot from a Durie pass was cleared off the
line by John Hughes.
Andy Goram might have spent most of the first-half
asleep, such was the Ibrox domination - but as the
interval approached he was tested twice - holding
Craig Burley's shot from a Tosh McKinlay pass at the
second attempt in forty minutes, then sixty seconds
later denying Lubo Moravcik after the Slovakian had
embarked on a mazy run.
Rangers finished the half on the attack however -
Huistra playing a one-two with Laudrup before seeing
his volley flash inches wide.
The Light Blue legions were in good voice at the
interval, outnumbering their great rivals by perhaps
as much as eight to one, and within ten minutes of the
restart Laudrup almost broke the deadlock with a
sublime piece of skill, shimming to the byeline before
seeing his netbound chip touched over by Gould.
Unbelievably, after such Rangers domination, Celtic
snatched the lead in 59 minutes when a Rudi Vata cross
somehow eluded Andy Goram and Graham Roberts, Andy
Walker turning the ball into the net at the back post.
Six minutes later it was almost 2-0 when Frank
McAvennie's shot on the turn from a Moravcik pass was
tipped over by substitute goalkeeper Nicky Walker, who
proved equal to the task again in 68 minutes when he
held a 25-yard shot from Moravcik.
Celtic now held the upper hand with the Slovakian
midfielder running the show - a one-two with Walker in
73 minutes saw him clear through on goal only for
Walker to deflect his shot wide, then sixty seconds
later Walker again proved equal to the task, blocking
a Vata shot from Moravcik's pass.
Rangers did not deserve to be behind however, given
their first-half superiority, and the scores were
level in 78 minutes when Boyd turned a Durie pass into
his own net.
The Ibrox men had regained the ascendancy - and three
minutes later a short passback from Hughes almost
presented Ally McCoist with an opening, Gould rushing
off his line to clear.
Darren Jackson skimmed the post with an eighteen-yard
shot in 87 minutes, but the final chance of the night
fell to Bert Konterman, outstanding throughout at the
scene of his finest moment in a blue jersey, whose
25-yard shot from a Laudrup opening shaved an upright.
The final whistle sounded shortly afterwards, and both
managers agreed to dispense with a penalty shoot-out
and leave the result as a draw.
RANGERS Goram (Walker 62); Wishart (McCoist 34
{Roberts 45 [Wishart 67]}), MacPherson, Konterman,
Numan; Walters, Spackman, Prytz (McCoist 71), Huistra
(Roberts 78); Laudrup, Durie
CELTIC Gould; Boyd, Hughes, Whyte, McKinlay (Collins
45); Vata, Moravcik, Burley (MacLeod 42 [Burley 80]),
Collins (Burns 42); Jackson (McAvennie 25 [Jackson
67]), Coyne (Walker 25 [Coyne 85])
REFEREE Willie Young