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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The SPL, the SFA, the administrators and officials
are a complete joke.
Their only concern is propagating the
institution.
Everything else is secondary.
NiallP77 Nevin also said the following:
“That’s probably the best 45 minutes I have seen Rangers play this season. They have all been up for it but Sone Aluko, I’m not going to get carried away, but has he been watching videos of Lionel Messi? He’s been fantastic.”
Aluko v Messi…..Hmmmmmm
PFAyr at 16:41, my wife said at full-time that there was a lot of nonsense against NL on twitter, Eg NL should be fined by the club etc. My god we don’t even know what actually happened, in any case I’d rather put my faith in Neil Lennon than some Erm Celt on twatter.
V
Lovely control and volley by Stokesy
A wee half yard more on that and there’s yer goal o the season
Smashin player at times, brilliant
They committed 19 fouls today and got one yellow card. Now I know it’s not as simple as a set number of fouls means so many yellows, but there were a fair few in that lot that should have meant a booking.
Good article Paul67, a fair summary.
I posted under the previous article that I didn’t have any real complaints with the ref today. But I was forgetting a) the fact Samaras couldn’t have bought a foul in the first half and b) ending the game before the 4 minutes were up. at least another minute should have been played, who knows what could have happened.
All in all a bad day but a week from now we’ll be Champions, and it’s been too long since we were last crowned that.
jmccormick on 25 March, 2012 at 16:37:
“I respect your opinion, don`t agree with it. I felt let down, our manager allowed himself to become a “story” again, our ackling was inept. We would have demanded red cards for those challenges, Sammi, FF and Brown can all say they gave their all, and the support were magnificent. the rest?”
I repeat, Celtic never let me down … And I am sure the overwhelming majority of our supporters feel the same way as I do. I am proud of Celtic – champions elect after giving the Huns a 15-point start.
And with all due respect I don’t know how you can state that Neil Lennon has ‘allowed himself to become a “story” again’.
Lenny has been demonised by the Scottish media since he arrived at our club – surely you must have caught on by now that he doesn’t have to do anything to become the story?
not good enough – 2nd time this season we have bullied there
Lenny come on mate, you must be learning by now – Cha does not work, if Izzy is fit enought to be brought on after 20 minutes then surely to f he could have started with young Matthews in his right place.
will not say much about your sending off, but rumours in cyberspace are saying that maybe the police had something to do with the sending off?
Calum Murray – MOM performance today, guaranteed we wouldnt be winning the league today – expect nothing but lavish praise from the media in the next few days – in fact expect to be confirmed as Scotland’s top whistler in the next couple of days
Cha never a red, big Vic – both should have walked not just the one with the hoops on.
Sammi, brown and big ff – only guys with pass marks
gutted today, really gutted – this team could have been legends – no bottle
Some random thoughts about today’s game:
I thought the referee was desperate to send Celtic players off and showed little hesitation in reaching to his hip pocket to take out the red card. This was in marked contrast to Bocanegra’s sending off when he touched his hip pocket after awarding the penalty but didn’t take out the card. For a moment I thought he wasn’t going to send him off but when a Celtic player spoke to him (Ledley?) he then took the card out and sent the man off.
Rangers second goal was offside. As soon as Wallace touched the ball he was offside before his shot rebounded to Little to score.
I couldn’t argue with either of our players being sent off and the ref was technically correct to do so. I haven’t read any previous posts but am I the only person who thinks that Whittaker went over the top on Wanyama in the same incident and should also have been sent off?
I’m a big Neil Lennon fan but I am very angry at him for being sent off. His team were down to 10 men and he left them leaderless. He should apologise to his players and the supporters who attended the game. A manager is no use sitting in the media room when his players and coaching staff need guidance.
Someone on here said last year that his mother told him that Celtic need a general but Neil is a foot soldier. I’m sure that, given time, Neil will rise to general status but today’s behaviour was that of a foot soldier.
Disappointed at the overall performance but proud that our Bhoys scored 2 goals at the end to make the score respectable and to panic the referee causing him to blow up early in case we caused a calamity by gettting a draw.
The result probably ensured the safety of our supporters after the game and we WILL become champions in the next couple of games. I’d willingly concede every game at Ibrox if we were sure to go on and win the League each year.
What seems extremely odd about Neil’s sending off is that the ref didn’t do it at the time, but rather waited until after the half time break. That’s a new one on me – a sending off 15 minutes after the offence.
A dreadful day allround, we got it wrong /didn’t show up again and Murray got us down to 9 men given the slightest chance. It’s stating the obvious to say it’s been a bad week.
I can’t wait for the cheats to be punished
Just back from Ibrox and I’ve never felt less bothered after a defeat to Rangers. I’ve read this CQN page only and heard a few calls to Chico on Radio Clyde from the Celtic miserabilists who only come out to play after a defeat.
Here’s the headline story & the main events.
Rangers had a Phyrric victory and we had a Party in defeat.
Cha blocked a great scoring chance for them.
Aluko scored a great goal when Cha was scared to tackle for fear of a red card.
Cha’s fears are justified when he gets a red for denying a “clear” goalscoring opportunity to Lee Wallace (1 goal this season) a yard outside the extreme left of the penalty box.
Celtic fight back and a wonder save by McGregor from Sammi prevents the equaliser. Stokes and Ledley miss further chances.
Rangers huff and puff at 1:0 against 10 until Big Vic gets sent off (haven’t seen it so won’t comment). The game ended there- 11(or 14) against 9 was always going to be a heavy defeat.
Rangers score 2 more and we are chasing the game.
Sammi is brilliant once more and we get a pen. The Celtic end has to remind Calum to red card the Gers centre back as he was guessing as to who had made it since he did not want to red card them.
Thomas Rogne wiped a smile off their face from a great free kick delivery.
So forget bottling, big game mentality, wrong team etc; etc;
Remember what our fans at the game did. Immediately after each of Rangers goals we sang and danced and shut them up. The fans at the game got the attitude right. Those phoning to criticise Celtic are getting it wrong.
There are people in our support who believe Antony Stokes is a serial diver because he has been booked 4 times for simulation and that our manager has a discipline problem because he gets sent to the stands, and there are others in our support who’ll stand beside me in believing that we are still paying a price for Dougie gate.
I’ll gladly pay that price
Hail Hail Neil Lennon and the Celtic championship winning team
The Celtic fans who were defending Callum Murray this morning are going to o have to take a long hard look in the mirror.
Disgusting cheating straight from the Dallas way of reffing a Celtic match.
Our team was stitched up big time today, that swine of a ref. today could’nt get the red cards out quick enough. but with Boccanegra’s red he take ages,clearly getting directed from someone else.
Where do Celtic go from here regarding the SFA and the cheating refs.
We have a great opportunity coming up by doing a deal with the SPL gang of 10.
The SPL should be able to nominate the officials instead of Flemming and the SFA, if the refs still cheat, then we must bring in refs from other countries.
Pig sick over here in sunny Stockholm.
KTF
Gordon J – 19 fouls given against them you mean…fair few not given particularly after the 1st sending off up to the half time whistle…I counted 5 not given.
What astonished me was that it was almost 80 minutes before a Rangers player got booked! For me Whittaker, Goian and Elbows should have been carded if Murray plays to the rules
antrimkev on 25 March, 2012 at 16:58 said:
If no bottle on has to ask why.
Paul 67
A poor defensive display , with our centre halves standing off too many times and once again looking to play too deep, which totally knackers us as a unit going forward.
Disgraceful ref performance from Murray, which had the impact of unsettling us as the game wore on, Bronny tried the refs patience with a few wild kicks in the last 15 minutes but by that stage Murray had worked his magic.
The actual game of football was today once again at Ipox the loser, as what passes for football at Ipox is ludicrous and the manner in which the SFA appointed refs allow the rules to be flaunted beggars belief.
In defeat we can recognise our own limitations, the full backs need to stay tight as a 4 man defence against Dignity, as we have lost too many goals with a dis-jointed back 4 scrambling back to cover.
The centre half positions are still a worry, Kelvin is not the answer , Chas got exposed today for lack of pace (hence the defence dropped too deep)……if we can get this sorted we will progress significantly.
Also today , we lacked an old head in midfield who could adapt to the game circumstances , it was crying out for big Vic to clobber Aluko early doors and slow him down, as well as Elbows getting a sore one in the head.
Still only weeks away until Dignity run out of cash and the FTT verdict , oh and the league title win!
Beeronicecfc
they were bricking themselves first half
:)
bournesouprecipe on 25 March, 2012 at 16:46 said:
Anybody answering the question why Neil was not allowed into the stand?
I would imagine that they couldn’t guarantee his safety. Which just shows how highly thought of that the hun scum are.
pabloh
I agree with you but do you see rangers getting a red card for it ? elbows on kayal ?
setting free the bears on 25 March, 2012 at 17:00
+1
Superb
we were never going to be allowed to win that game
murray was a disgrace, whether or not the reds were reds, he simply point blank refused to award us any fouls; how on earth did whittaker get through that game unbooked?
weirdly quite proud with the way we came roaring back with 9 men late on, another 5 minutes and i reckon we would have done it! though even then murray didn’t even play the whole 4 minutes added on
I watched second half and highlights from the whole game.
Cha foul was few yards outside penalty area. It was for free kick and yellow. Cha was covered by another Celtic player and Rangers player position was not central. Never red, never a penalty. I saw the linesman did not rise the flag at all.
Red for Wanyama probably right decision. In another words – in Poland very likely red, in Germany for sure red, in England probably yellow.
The referee forgot to give yellow to Whittaker and Goian. McCullough should have been sent off for elbowing Brown. Very poor performance from the referee.
JimmyQuinnsBits on 25 March, 2012 at 16:47 said:
Yup. It is impossible to judge how it would have turned out had Cha stayed on the park. Many a game I’ve seen a team dominate for a while then fall out of it. Murray denied us the opportunity to make a real comeback.
It was a very soft ordering off but it turned the game. Not for the first time at Ibrox.
Players apparently angry and I hope they nurse their wrath to keep it warm for the return at CP.
If revenge is a dish best served cold, ice cream is definitely on the menu.
All today showed (as last week) is that when we are not at the very top of our game, referees can influence the result.
Sally thinks that was a great performance …..long may he reign
sinn e
met acouple of CQNerstoday in thr bar .
People were annoyed but there wa s still a party mood ptevalent
champions elect
stupid phone
stupid nuns stupid spellcheck
4-5-1 – capitulate before a ball is kicked. Izzy and Commons played well, and should have been on from the get-go. Both cards were harsh, but we were well-beaten.
Commons and Izzy certainties to start next week.
PF
Spot on.
As I pointed out in earlier post MIB were never any different.
Only genuine quality plus physical strength can effectively deal with THEM on a regular basis.
When shove comes to push THEY seem to be better motivated than us.
Neil Lennon is a Celtic legend. Lets stand by him and support him. Heres hoping we get a move elsewhere. Leave all the rabids to thenselves and let us prosper on a level playing field. However hopefully ratners in administartion will still continue with mcmoist in charge. But dont mention the gardiner.
Finally let me salute the legends C Whyte Dodgy D Murray and Martin Bain, with Big thanks and a nod to rangerstaxcase.com
Usually avoid posting after a defeat like this. Disapointment not being a friend of objectivity.
However, when an amateur such as myself is standing having a long pre game conversation with a few others over the inclusion of Cha, it does lead you to question the manager’s logic.
He is ,potentially, a decent right midfielder. He is though, entirely incapable as a right back when playing decent opposition.
I appreciate that without natural wide players there was a temptation to look for others to provide the width. However, to overlook Cha’s defensive deficiencies was, at best optimitic and, at worst, a serious error of judgement.
All that said, I am not surprised at the result. I thought we would struggle given recent form, the fact they had so many back from injury, their motivation levels and the ABSOLUTE CERTAINTY the officials would be actively working against us.
However, it is a bitter pill to swallow. The history books will record that, in this final game against the Orcs, they won. We can only hope that the same history books record that the team they fielded was fraudulently purchased with taxpayers money and contained improperly registered players.
Cheers
Yogi
Goian swung out of sammi literally – no free, davis goes through izzie – no booking – they are pathetic, at least their cheating has caught up on them this year , roll on fttt
petec @ 16:48
Just listened to the interview.
He’s not holding back. Go get them Lenny.
Am proud of our 9 men today.
Willie Henderson must be mortified at all this.
Ridiculous—just ridiculous. That’s not football, that’s licensed carnage for one team, Rangers, and it’s always been so. A manhandled ref from his last fixture between the teams is spoken to quietly by the Celtic manager. Says nothing. Gets someone else to inform NL he’s not going out for the second half. Refuses to see him after the game despite saying he would see him in 20 minutes. Cha sent of with minimal contact and NOT being the last man. Look at it again. Samaras assaulted repeatedly. Big Vic sent off in a 50/50, while his opponent tried to do him by going over the top. Stokes offside while 2 yards on, Rangers player on despite being 2 yards off. Elbows, for the second week running, gets away with a red card offence. Referee blows before time up. Celtic scare crap out of the Orcs despite all this. Meanwhile some Celtic supporters come on here and moan. Celtic were never going to be allowed to win this. If you had put the entire Barcelona tean in there today, and included Messi, in Celtic shirts, it would have been the same. Yet we still have people pointing a finger at NL and saying “he brings it on himself”. What for? Being honest? Being polite even though he must have felt like choking that scumbag Murray? The mineshafters are back. All we need to complete the day is an ETims article by Gaudd.
Afternoon all
Sitting on my balcony sipping a glass of Shiraz. Had hoped it would be the sparkling stuff I have had for 2 years but there you go.
Very bad afternoon again- I agree that Murray had a stinker and that it would have been difficult for us to win however we played. But we have to admit we did not play until Aluko scored. Kilmarnock and Hearts have gone to that same poisonous atmosphere and they handled it.
Thought the Cha ordering off was harsh as there was precious little contact but if there was well he proobably should have gone. Big Vic’s ordering off was though laughable. As for their second goal well I suppose that’s what some would call an ‘honest mistake’.
It worries me that we are now limping to the title which is a great shame after all the great work since Nov 5.
By the way I read that Duff and Phelps are saying they are expecting to have new owners in placebo the end of the season. I suppose they will actually know more of what is going on than I do but it seems extraordinary that just three weeks ago they were struggling to finish the season, two players leave and salaries are cut temporarily and they are suddenly a going concern . Rum, very rum
Yours gloomily
Jimbo
Who was the main stand linesman today? Just so I know when we be starting as good as a goal down in future.
HH
Celtic phone-in show LIVE now
Just starting
Skype in, lets hear yer thoughts on the game
http://www.spreaker.com/show/hail_hail_media
Talking about referees!
When the Sky cameras panned into the crowd to highlight watty did anyone else see the ex ref sitting behind him? can’t remember his name.
Looks like Neil is going to have another meeting with the ftSFA committee,once for telling Gollum that he’s a crap ref and now murray that he’s a cheat!
Rangers in Administration Reserves 3 Celtic 2
You have just been beaten by one of the worst Rangers team in years. This same Celtic team was being lauded by your manager and many of your support as English Premier League potential just two weeks ago.
I think this is worthy of debate.