BRENDAN RODGERS declared himself satisfied with Celtic’s 1-1 draw at Ibrox – and singled out Adam Idah for special praise.
The Republic of Ireland international striker blew a glorious chance to give the champions the lead – just 36 SECONDS before the hosts broke to go ahead minutes before the interval.
However, Idah made amends when he rifled in the equaliser in the 57th minute as the Hoops, who won their 55th title the previous weekend at Tannadice, settled for a stalemate and preserved their 17-point advantage over the Govan club with just three league games to play.
POINT MADE…Brendan Rodgers and Callum McGregor lead the parade as Arne Engels, Yang Hyun-jun and Daizen Maeda applaud the Celtic fans at Ibrox.
It could so easily have been a win for the visitors, but 33-goal Daizen Maeda – of all people! – fluffed a wonderful chance in the fading moments of stoppage-time after being sent clean through on exposed keeper Liam Kelly.
Alas, the normally-deadly Japanese ace got his feet in a ankle and Barry Ferguson’s side survived with referee Nick Walsh blowing for full-time only moments later.
Rodgers said: “I thought a point was the least we deserved. We had some good moments in the first-half and played through their pressure quite well.
“We had the chance to go 1-0 up which resulted in the corner – and from the corner we got done on the counter-attack.
“But at half-time I just said to the players that we just needed to play the game that we’ve been playing, just keep building the game and moving them side to side.
“They were playing in a diamond so we needed to keep moving the ball. And I thought we thoroughly deserved to get the result.”
OPPORTUNITY MISSED…Brendan Rodgers can’t hide his frustration as Celtic blow a late chance.
Rodgers, speaking to Celtic TV, continued: “We had a moment at the end where it looked like we were going to win it.
“However, it’s a great effort by the players and we never had too many moments when we were under real pressure.
“I’ve been here before where you maybe have a 10-15 minute spell where you’re really under the cosh and you’ve got to be really strong, but I never felt that we had to defend that way.”
Looking at the contribution from Idah, last season’s Scottish Cup Final matchwinner against the same opponents, Rodgers added: “Adam plays for big moments.
“He was obviously disappointed he didn’t score, but he’s always there and I thought in the second-half he showed his mentality – really strong and he took the ball in and a wonderful spin and finish for the goal.”
Next up for the champions is a game against Hibs at Parkhead on Saturday in their return to Paradise for the first time since sealing the club’s fourth successive title and thirteenth in 14 years.
