Rangers 1 (Thompson 81) Celtic 2 (Larsson 19, Thompson 51)
Attendance 49,909
Inexplicably Henning Berg, Fernando Ricksen and Steven
Thompson were all listed as substitutes against a
Celtic side more or less at full strength.
The first chance of the game fell to Rangers in seven
minutes when Bob Malcolm dispossessed Didier Agathe
and fed Peter Lovenkrands who in turn played in
Michael Mols, onto Ronald De Boer whose shot was
deflected wide.
Three minutes later Chris Sutton was true to form when
he deliberately ran into Stefan Klos then collapsed in
a heap claiming a foul. For once Referee Kenny Clark
was not fooled.
The opening goal fell to Celtic - very much against
the run of play when a non-existent free-kick was
awarded wide on the left, Alan Thompson’s inswinger
being headed home unchallenged by Henrik Larsson with
Gavin Rae having lost his man.
Rangers fought back - and were desperately unlucky on
the half-hour when a Michael Ball cross was sliced
against his own post by Stanislav Varga.
Two minutes later another Ball cross was met by Allan
Hutton whose header was touched around the post by
Gordon Marshall.
In a rare break a Thompson free-kick - awarded for yet
another non-existent foul - provided an opportunity
for Bobo Balde to produce yet another extravagant
dive.
Rangers were the only team playing football - and
Ronald De Boer came close with an overhead kick from a
Hutton cross that flew just over.
Michael Mols came even closer in 39 minutes with a
twenty-yard volley from a Ball pass that missed the
target by inches.
The scores should have been level at the interval -
Lovenkrands shooting into the side-net from a Mols
pass from a De Boer lay-off.
Half-time arrived with Rangers undeservedly trailing
by that single goal, but restarting still pressing for
the equaliser, Hutton cutting inside from a De Boer
pass only to see his left-foot shot from the edge of
the box deflected wide.
Sixty seconds later - unbelievably - it was 2-0 when
in a counter-attack Pearson was clean through on
Stefan Klos only for ‘Der Goalie’ to block his effort,
yet as luck would have it the rebound fell to Thompson
who netted.
Craig Moore received an undeserved yellow card for a
tackle on Sutton, whose theatrics fooled only the
referee, yet in the aftermath when Neil Lennon swung a
punch at ‘Oz’ Kenny Clark astonishingly contented
himself with an admonishment when the correct decision
should have been a red card.
Yet another non-existent free-kick led to Varga’s
toe-poke striking the crossbar in 56 minutes, then two
minutes later Klos saved at point-blank range from
Larsson after Sutton, in a glaringly offside position,
had squared the ball.
With Chris Burke and Steven Thompson on for Zurab
Khizanishvili and Peter Lovenkrands Rangers attempted
to fight their way back into the game, yet it was all
too apparent that the home side were getting
absolutely no favours from the referee - Bobo Balde
escaping scot-free in 69 minutes after chopping down
Stephen Hughes.
There seemed no breakthrough for the Ibrox men - Mols
seeing his drive from a Burke cross blocked by David
Marshall five minutes later, but in 81 minutes the
deficit was reduced when Steven Thompson headed home a
Burke corner for Rangers’ first ‘Old Firm’ goal of the
season.
The Light Blues poured forward in search of an
equaliser, and it almost arrived in 85 minutes when
Ball flicked a Hutton cross just over.
Time ran out on Rangers however - undeserved losers in
a game where they had played the only football on
offer.
Alex McLeish afterwards commented:
"We didn’t get the breaks in front of goal. Luck
wasn’t with us. We created five or six chances. The
goals we lost were a joke. We need bigger, more
physical players."
RANGERS Klos; Hutton, Moore, Khizanishvili (Burke 58),
Ball; Rae, Malcolm (Ricksen 79), Hughes, Lovenkrands
(Thompson 65); Mols, R. De Boer
UNUSED SUBS McGregor, Berg
CELTIC Marshall; Balde, Varga, Kennedy; Agathe,
Lennon, Petrov, Pearson (Miller 77), Thompson;
Larsson, Sutton
UNUSED SUBS McGovern, Sylla, Lambert, Mjallby
REFEREE Kenny Clark