League Cup-tie at Ibrox, coming from behind to defeat
Celtic 2-1 to finally end the Parkhead men's
domination of this fixture over the past twenty
months.
Manager Alex McLeish made two changes from Sunday with
Zurab Khizanishvili and Alex Rae replacing Alan Hutton
and the suspended Bob Malcolm. Dado Prso had to be
content with a place on the bench. Celtic Boss Martin
O'Neill sprang a surprise with the inclusion of
Juninho up front alongside John Hartson and the
fielding of three central defenders.
Rangers almost struck early - inside four minutes when
Hamed Namouchi fed Nacho Novo whose mazy run carried
him into the Celtic penalty area only to see his shot
blocked by David Marshall.
It was all Rangers in these opening stages - three
minutes later Peter Lovenkrands' angled drive from a
Fernando Ricksen pass flashed across the face of goal.
Zurab Khizanishvili then came close in eighteen
minutes - cutting inside on an Alex Rae pass he fired
wide of goal.
Celtic had scarcely crossed the halfway line - yet two
minutes later John Hartson headed over from an Allan
Thompson free-kick right in front of goal.
Rangers suffered a serious injury blow in 26 minutes
when Steven Thompson, limping since the second minute,
was replaced by Dado Prso.
Undaunted, Rangers pressed forward - Novo's angled
drive in 35 minutes was deflected goalwards by
Stanislav Varga, bringing out a reaction save from
Marshall.
The half ended as it had begun - with the Ibrox men on
top but unable to make the vital breakthrough. One
final chance saw Jean-Alain Boumsong's header from a
Ricksen free-kick headed behind by Neil Lennon.
Despite Rangers' dominance the scores were still level
midway through the second-half, and there was certain
inevitability about the goal when it arrived - for
Celtic.
Varga started it all when he struck the crossbar from
a Hartson head-flick from a non-existent free-kick,
then from the subsequent Stilian Petrov corner Stefan
Klos at full stretch could only turn the ball behind
for another corner - taken this time by Thompson whose
in-swinger found Hartson out-jumping Marvin Andrews at
the far post to head into the net in 66 minutes.
The scores should have been levelled within two
minutes - Lovenkrands finding Namouchi inside the
six-yard box whose shot was somehow deflected wide.
Three minutes later Andrews' header from a Vignal
cross was held by Marshall as the hymns of hate and
bigotry poured forth from the Broomloan Road Stand,
songs glorifying terrorist organisations.
Shota Arveladze replaced Lovenkrands in 78 minutes,
and made an almost immediate impact on the game - his
run from midfield finding Novo whose return pass was
back-heeled into the path of Namouchi by the Georgian.
Hamed's low twenty-yard drive was parried by Marshall
- and turned into the net by Prso for the vital
equaliser in 84 minutes.
Rangers now went for the kill - two minutes later an
incredible scramble in front of the Celtic goal saw
Novo's drive blocked by Balde before Andrews shot
wide.
With extra-time looming, Boumsong's header from
Ricksen's corner was cleared off the line by Didier
Agathe, and then in the dying seconds Arveladze's
scissors kick from a Novo header only just cleared the
crossbar.
There was almost a nightmare start to extra-time for
the Light Blues when Celtic substitute Craig Beattie
got in between Andrews and Boumsong only to see his
toe-poke cleared off the line by the Frenchman.
Rangers however struck with a quite superb goal on 100
minutes - in a lightning break Ricksen embarked on a
surging run from his own penalty area before releasing
Arveladze with a slide-rule pass, the Georgian rifling
the ball home from the edge of the box.
Alex Rae, in superb form throughout, went off to a
standing ovation in 110 minutes, being replaced by
Stephen Hughes.
Rangers were victorious - as was football, and
afterwards Alex McLeish reflected:
"The team showed character and spirit to come from
behind. We hope to build on this result. It's been a
long time, but there's a thin line between victory and
defeat. The team have gelled - the spirit in the
dressing-room is good."
RANGERS Klos; Khizanishvili, Boumsong, Andrews,
Vignal; Namouchi, Ricksen, A. Rae (Hughes 110),
Lovenkrands (Arveladze 78); Novo, Thompson (Prso 26)
UNUSED SUBS G. Smith, Hutton
CELTIC Marshall; Agathe, Balde, Varga, Valgaeren;
McNamara, Petrov (Beattie 90 {McGeady 105}), Lennon,
Thompson; Hartson, Juninho (Camara 66)
UNUSED SUBS Hedman, Pearson
REFEREE Stuart Dougal
Attendance 47,298