SPL Saturday August 20th

Rangers 3

Celtic 1

1:0 Prso 34
2:0 Buffel 51
2:1 Maloney 86 pen
3:1 Novo 88 pen

Att: 49,699

MIB: Stuart Dougal

Celtic:
Boruc Telfer Balde McManus Camara Petrov Lennon Nakamura Thompson Beattie Hartson
subs
Maloney for Nakamura 53
Zurawski for Hartson 66
Virgo for Camara 86

This game will be remembered for MIB Dougal whose face should be as red as the cards he flashed. In a display of refereeing straight off the Magic Roundabout, his spectacular card tricks were only fit for CBeebies. Unsurprisingly, Thommo was on the receiving end of the first card; real Ibrox deja vu and a scene setter for another pyrrhic victory for TFOD.

The second card was for Lennon, who was verbally abusing Dougal and trying to barge into him only to collide with a linesman. How the hacks loved it. The man who has endured years of overt sectarian abuse - tacitly accepted by the media and attributed to his 'style of play' by many hacks - eventually lost the plot. The Orcs in the press went into overdrive and would have him hung drawn and quartered twice if they had their way.

The loss of Thompson for a lunge at Novo, that merited a yellow, changed this game, as a lightweight Celtic defence eventually crumbled. With only 10 men against 14, the Hoops were always going to struggle.

While Camara upped his game, Nakamura didn't really show and Telfer looked like a wee boy lost in Wonderland as the cops came looking for Wacko Jacko. Virgo, when he eventually got on, went up front and did nothing. It is an indictment of the current state of affairs when the manager puts an untried defender into the forward line at Ibrox.

While Stan Petrov tried hard to feed the forwards, you knew it just wasn't going to happen when Bobo headed over from three yards out. This wasn't to be our day.

Not until Maloney, who replaced Nakamura on 55 minutes, won a penalty near the end, did Celtic look dangerous. But hopes of a grandstand finish were quickly killed off as Dougal gave a ludicrous penalty to the Orcs. Prso, one of the strongest men on the pitch, collapsed like the proverbial house of cards following a brush against Petrov in the box. Dougal was pointing to the spot before you could say 'timber'.

Unfortunately subsequent events will probably overshadow this particular decision, but it ranks down there with some of the worst in recent times.

Eventually Zebedee appeared and sent everyone home to bed.

This was all par for the course for Celtic. Strachan's team is not gelling. The senior players are not pulling their weight on the park. Maybe Lennon and Thompson's enforced absences (the former might be cooling his heels for quite a while) will mean a better balance on the park, but the Sieve needs shoring up fast.

Postscript

TV viewers had the benefit of this wee snippet from Jock Brown: 'Lennon and Ferguson clash... a kick there at Lennon from Ferguson, that was dangerous in the context...'

The outcome of the off the ball kick at the Celtic captain by the Rangers captain? Nothing, no free kick, no card, nothing. The time of time of that off the ball kick at the Celtic captain by the Rangers captain? 5 seconds prior to the second goal. The position of the referee at the time? About 5 yards away. He had to look past both players to see the ball. The chance of him missing the off the ball kick at the Celtic captain by the Rangers captain? Zero.

And while we're feeling in an agrieved mood - why was Lennon dismissed on the pitch? Is it not common practice to wait and call a player out of the dressing room into the referee's room with the manager in such incidents? Perhaps not if you want to show the home fans that their wish has been granted.