Celtic will have to keep the Champagne on ice for a while longer after failing to collect the three points required to win the league at Ibrox this afternoon. The champions-elect looked nervous early on with few looking comfortable in possession, allowing Rangers significant periods of possession. After only 10 minutes Rangers were ahead when Sone Aluko beat Thomas Rogne before cutting inside Charlie Mulgrew and firing a shot past Forster in the Celtic goal.
Celtic scarcely featured as an attacking threat in the first half but moments after going behind Georgios Samaras produced one of the most scintillating pieces of skill on the day. The Greek international collected the ball 70 yards from goal, beat four opponents before his shot from 12 yards was saved by Alan McGregor. Anthony Stokes mishit the rebound allowing McGregor to tip over.
Stokes forced a further save from McGregor with a fine volley after controlling on his chest but the game was soon to look ominous for Celtic. Cha Du-Ri was caught wrong side of Lee Wallace and made the slighted touch on the Rangers player who went to ground two yards outside the penalty area. Referee Calum Murray sent Cha off despite the covering attendance of Charlie Mulgrew.
Despite their numerical advantage Rangers seemed content to prevent Celtic scoring, Fraster Forster didn’t make a single save while Celtic were numerically on level terms or only a single man down. Ten minutes after the break Victor Wanyama was red carded for a two footed tackle on Steven Whittaker.
Lee McCulloch was fortunate to remain on the field after elbowing Scott Brown on the head. In a carbon copy of the incident which ended Beram Kayal’s season in December, McCulloch went to ground after the incident until attended by a physio, which perhaps tempered the referee’s response. Clever, if predictable.
With things clearly not going their way Celtic then lost an offside goal. Celtic had an opportunity to make an attempt on goal when they won a free kick 28 yards out. With Charlie Mulgrew still running into position Scott Brown played a quick pass to Kris Commons but Celtic players were crowded out by a number of opponents and lost possession. Rangers broke forward and applied pressure which brought the best out of Fraser Forster but Andrew Little put Rangers two ahead from what was clearly an offside position.
A further breakaway on the 77th minute resulted in Lee Wallace putting Rangers three goals ahead.
Despite being two goals down substitute Kris Commons started to dictate play and brought Celtic their best period of possession. In the 89th minute Georgios Samaras broke through the Rangers defence but was scythed to the ground by Bocanegra. The referee awarded a penalty and ordered the Rangers player off. Scott Brown scored the penalty
Moments later Commons got the better of Whittaker on Celtic’s left before being brought down by the Rangers player. Commons found Thomas Rogne with the resultant free kick which the defender powered home.
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Never got started until too late today…same old story…and that’s the league blown again. I can’t see us holding onto this 18 point lead..Lenny and co for the gallows. Poor ref really hard to work hard, pour soul lost his yellow card for most of the game, and then had to send off a fellow brother. Those last 4 minutes really went too slow for him as well. Sammi should have been sent off for the sheer cheek of being a quality player. That would have evened up the game.
HH
CRC
ps :-)
THE EXILED TIM on 25 March, 2012 at 21:02 said:
Getting a bit heavy , no . I thought jealous was more heavy than envy,but I could be wrong. I DO envy the climate if you are prepping an outdoor pool. Enjoy.
seanbhoy69 @ 21:11
My local Cider supplier :((
Bhoylo88
They will never have Lenny in the stand at dungdome. That is why they didnt bring him to trial last time till after the cup game had past.
excathedra
“Hooper on for last 2 mins sorry that defies logic and can only be an appearance money handout which is wrong. ”
Really??
I heard a straightforward highly plausible explanation earlier.
Hooper, having been injured, was not to be risked today if not needed. Sammi was still going strong (witness the penalty) so he did not need replaced.
However, when Rogne scored and we were within one goal of equalising, it suddenly made sense to go for broke and commit an extra forward (either Hooper or Brozek would have done). If only Rogne had scored earlier, your suspicion re appearance money would not be raised.
Anyway, I am told by the TV watchers that Thommo had Hooper stripped within 0.5 seconds of Thomas’s header hitting the net.
Not that illogical after all.
its quite funny really, they are still deid
TET,
chuffed for you, and envious… mind you, those grandweans are gonnie have you knackered
Pure gold they are
The most depressing thing is the cheating
sfa/ spl/ mib / Huns .. All cheats
It makes you wonder what the point of it all is
Why should have to be sufficiently better than them to overcome the bias , why ?
Time for CFC to remain steadfast in the clamour for leniency for the Hun
They must be brought to an end or the cheating will just continue
s69
Everybody :>)
very disappointed like everyone else.
I just don’t get Cha..or Ki. Ki I can see superb technique but rarely do OF games revolve around technique- and he is not a blood and snotters player – so why play him? Cha in my opinion is below the standard acceptable to wear the Hoops.
We also need a new Captain. I would favour an older player to guide our young guns through these games.Kari Arnason from Aberdeen is available. He is a box to box midfielder, he is a mature character and I think would be great.
I know some on here will dismiss him but these are the folk who dismissed Mulgrew and Aluko. Trust me Arnason would be the ticket.
A Young Bhoy writes of his recent experience following the Hoops…
Being a Celtic Fan
In light of the 3-2 defeat to Rangers today I do not feel annoyed or disappointed. The better team was Rangers who were up for the game right from the start. Celtic were undone from a piece of genius from Aluko, the sending off of Cha Du Ri was debatable but hey, that’s football. There were no excuses for Wanyama’s challenge. In the modern game you cannot tackle like that and expect to get away with it.
To be honest I predicted that Rangers would win today because Celtic, in the games that really matter, cannot perform. Too many players expect another team mate to do something that will win them the game. Wrong. Football is a team game and to win big games everyone has to be at the best of their ability and Celtic for the last few years haven’t done that.
But take nothing away from the teams that have beaten Celtic in the last two games, they took their chances and in the end deservedly won. Now, when people try and defend losing there is no way you are going to win the argument, if your team doesn’t perform then there is nothing you can say that can justify the loss. So why do people try and do it rather than accept that sometimes your team will lose and that the better team won in the end?
There are many ups and downs of being a football fan and accepting defeat is the thing that you have to deal with. Today Rangers put their strongest team out, did what the manager asked them to do and it paid off. To that I say well done. You took you chances, kept the ball and crucially used it well.
Although I congratulate Rangers on winning that does not mean that you have to be happy about it. By all means get hacked off, it is human nature to get annoyed, but you can be gracious in defeat. Do not sink to the level of other, or bring in such things that are irrelevant to football, accept that and you will grow as a person.
Personally, I would prefer to win the league at Celtic Park, in front of the home crowd, a packed stadium and everybody having a sensational time. The Celtic team could have won the league at Ibrox for the first time since 1967 and the days of Jock Stein and Jimmy Johnstone and that maybe the last ever time (that is if Rangers go into liquidation) that they could have won the league at the home of their bitter rivals.
Today Rangers were the better team and deservedly won. Last week Celtic had many chances to score and did not take them but Kilmarnock waited for their chance to strike and they pounced onto the opportunity that won them the game. But who cares, in a couple of weeks Celtic will be Champions of Scotland and we can have our party then, but for now we have to wait.
Fotunes favour mibbees
Funny i thought the same they definitely looked bigger i thought it was just me
30 seconds should be added to the game for each substitution. Thats why we saw Hoops today. Not that Calum Murray did. It highlighted his cheating.
HH
What were they like after we scored the second, talk about up yur own exhaust pipe:)
FFM
TET
:)
At least we are still Tims.
Brief but. Friendly conversation with a decent but tense looking Policeman, immediately after game, outside Central Station:
“I bet your glad THEY won this afternoon.
”
“Ooooh Aye. Best result for the Polis.”
We parted with a smile & a knowing chuckle.
The Legend speaks
http://youtu.be/jY73FvFhCuk
“Things conspired against us, we were not going to win today”
Great to be a Celtic fan
TJ
Bhoylo83 @ 21:17
Aye, am sure they were always black before as well, but today white.
They really are odd peepil.
a wee bit of “banter” rangers style
http://i.imgur.com/Sf16L.jpg
Just watching it again.
If cha was given a yellow, nobody – NOBODY – would have blinked. It would have been a non talking point. Move along everyone.
Tv commentator was astonished, as were players, even the Huns I think.
Wouldn’t have seen red at Celtic park for that, had the roles been reversed.
antrimkev on 25 March, 2012 at 21:19 said:
a wee bit of “banter” rangers style
Whenever I see these ‘go home’ references I think about how many hundreds (thousands?) of them come across on the ferry every week.. Stupid stupid huns.
cheers ht will have a look
jmccormick
Not heavy or anything like that, I did have a smiley face in there btw :>)
The weather is good, a tad hot in the hight of summer, high 40’s for weeks on end, hard to get anything done, but I will suffer it…..
…………………..
JQB
Grandchildren are god’s gift for having children.
Granddaughter has a bag of things for me to fix for her, it’s what her grumpy does best, fix things….
Just home. Summing up the day IMO.
NL made wrong team selection. NL got tactics wrong. The players did not perform to
the standard the support or the management expect. Not to much argument there I suspect.
However. How many times through the years have we witnessed the huns being of the pace,second to the ball etc yet emerging from a match off form but with 3 points in the bag? Today Celtic were not at their best but do you need to be at your
best to win a game ? In short Callum Murray summed up the mire that is the SPL.
2 red cards against the team with the best discipline record in the league.
Clock how quick the red cards were produced against the Celtic duo.
Check the delay in the red card to the hun.
Level playing field my a**e..
Corrupt & we know it.
We also know the huns will cuff the murderwell next week.The following weekend
tims will fill the half of Rugby Park granted to us by their hun chairman.
That is where we will win the league.It was never going to happen at the bigotdome.
This corrupt game gives me the boke.
HamiltonTIm
I saw yor comments early being let down. You are one of the posters I most admire on here. Sometimes shit happens, I like it less than anyone but you shouldn’t question the commitment of either our players or manager. We have one of the youngest championionship winning teams in our history and they will go on to win many more than they will lose. In my opinion both sendings off were very harsh. What we also have playing against us are some of the most experienced players in RAnkers history, that showed todat re the likes of McCulloch, that experience will come to us
Enjoy the title and many more to come!
Golden Years – David Bowie
seanbhoy69 @ 21:17
Indeed.
But why the local grocer wouldn’t accept my box of 200 red and black scarves (that I knicked from his upstairs neighbour) in exchange for 4 cans of Bulmers, means he is very much to blame for all my troubles today. I even offered to throw in his neighbour’s union jack…but no.
ffm
Actually he did tell me where they were sourced.
He said something about a dodgy Delboy type character from Manchester.I do believe him because Citeh,s second strip i believe is red and black ok
HH
Phil
Neil Lennon, post match, sounds utterly and completely in control.
Firmly and clearly in possession of the facts.
Seems like Dougie Dougie 2 has yet to be played out.
For the first 30 seconds of the Sky interview, he sounds like Paul McBride.
It is very hard to make an honest assessment of this team given the structural barriers in front of them, which is a crying shame. Having said that, to paraphrase another CQN’r, 9 men lost against 12 to an offside goal.
TJ
THE EXILED TIM on 25 March, 2012 at 21:22 said:
apologies , no smiley appeared! Like I said enjoy it, I am a huge fan of the Spanish lifestyle, just wish I could live it and afford it.
HH
sparkleghirl on 25 March, 2012 at 21:22 said:
very true and it was both Protestant and Catholic Irish that died
they really arent the brightest – but i hope that banner didnt stay up for the full 90 minutes
linfield over here sing it to Cliftonville fans – that kind off sums them up
We’re sitting here together
The restaurant’s dry and warm
But red-brick walls can’t save me
From the coming storm
Raindrops pound the windows
A drumbeat I can feel
It’s the perfect place
For the condemned man’s last meal
Candles grace the table
And I catch a whiff of spice
But your sweet consideration
Feels as warm as ice
We’ve nearly reached this point before
But this time it’s for real
The table’s set
For the condemned man’s last meal
Tell me how I’ve wronged you, yell and call me names
You’re being too polite
I see your cold expression, your look of self-possession
And I lose my appetite
I know what you’ll be serving up
With our after-dinner drinks
I guess we’re both too weary
Of living on the brink
We’ve had so many troubles
Too many wounds to heal
Oh, here’s the waiter
With the condemned man’s last meal
Prestbhoy
You bot a program?? Shame on you or maybe not!!
Im still seething about today.
I hope that NL has several witnesses with complete credibility and take this all the way Murray is a cheat and may have lied to him. If there is no justice at the SFA[dont laugh] then of to court we go.
And what kind of club can get a licence but the opposition manager cannot sit in the directors box due to him being at risk from the home support?
They scored a great goal in 10 minutes but were still struggling to add to that or threaten Forster’s goal. so, after 30 minutes, we go down to 10 men. Rangers remain dominant but rarely threaten so, before the hour mark, we are reduced to 9 men. Only then is Rangers’ dominance translated into goals and, even then, they need an off side goal to do so.
We should have suffered a heavy defeat. Most 11 v 9 games end up with clear winning margins but our boys score two great GIRUY goals though we only had 5 minutes as a 9 vs 10 man game.
In those circumstances, I am more inclined to praise our players than crucify them. Yes, there are some who I think can be replaced by better but everyone of them will soon be able to call themselves a Celtic league medal winner. That’s a grand elite club to join.
Anrimkev,
aye… the usual
but, you know what? They gave me a gift.
Because of this, I never felt Scottish. Thats not the gift though. I was a Fenian git before I was old enough to understand what it meant. I was called that when I was a nipper, by adults.
We went to Donegal, as a family, every year. It felt like home, but I was never Irish there, pointless to even pretend I was.
Therefore I have no “homeland”; and, now, I’m glad. I belong nowhere and everywhere, who is to deny me that? One human being to another stating “you can’t go there”. Bollocks
I had a slight deja vu feeling today. Not so much the blatant cheating – I have become conditioned to that- but a brief return of that sense of disappointment that despite have more than ample resources (players) to beat the Huns and signal our dominance we pick the wrong guys and they underperform. I don’t see it as big game bottling but I do see it as a manifestation of not having invested in a mature on field leader.
The feeling is temporary as the SPL is coming home – which softens the blow but I’m still gutted. I really wanted to win today.
Cha smiling in disbelief also annoyed me.
jungle jam67 on 25 March, 2012 at 20:27 said:
Also well said, Hail Hail.
Regarding sally waiting in the tunnel at FT.Im surprised anyone could get by him to get to the dressing rooms!!
If sally wants to play up to the camera’s as a good guy, quiz host or peepuls poet.With his look at me shaking everybodies hand, aren’t i soo dignified.
Then where was he at the huns ‘shame game’ last year.That night he had a ‘dignified’ word in Neils ear before running down the tunnel with his tail between his legs.If he stands there waiting to greet every Celtic player when he wins, then why doesn’t he do the same in defeat?
He’s not fooling me!!
Just a big PR exercise for when the huns die.
Fat Stupid Hurting Hun!!
setting free the bears on 25 March, 2012 at 21:13
Ref Hooper.
Thank you for that observation,possible but improbable,if we needed someone to rough them up Brozek at 5’11 and not carrying an injury,would have been more likely.
Irrespective a team with a 34 yr old defender turned CF and a miscellaneous bunch of journeymen spoiled our day albeit with the help ( just like last week ) of a compliant official.
We are not as good as we think, but the recent triumphalism associated with their fiscal health has clouded reality and I daresay has rubbed off on the players.