SPL Saturday 19th November 2005

Celtic 3

Rangers 0

1:0 Hartson 12
2:0 Balde 56
3:0 McGeady 61

subs

Att: 58,997

MIB: Dougie McDonald

Celtic: Boruc Telfer Camara Balde McManus, Petrov Lennon Nakamura McGeady Maloney Hartson.
subs
Thonpson for Maloney 57
Agathe for Nakamura 76

You have to wonder what goes on in the average Rangers supporter's head (can't really use words like brain or mind); there they are getting whipped 3:0 and what are they singing? 'Celtic know all about their troubles'. Mind you, the same song does seem to accept that have found their level at the moment in Dundee and Hamilton.

This was the first game in Eck's death or glory run of four. Looks like death.

Chairman Murray had demanded more effort. That much he got. The tricky bit comes when after all that effort you have to do something with the ball. While they weren't giving the ball away quite so freely this time as they did in the recent CIS Cup tie but there were still moments of generosity that made you think the Rangers defence should all have been wearing Santa Claus outfits.

The first goal was a sieve masterclass of incompetent passing, marking, communication, everything. It was perfect. Hutton attempted a straight forward 15 yard square pass to Bazza, the Murray Park training kicked into action as he put the ball right on Nakamura's toe - and hats off to Bazza for his truly feeble effort to reach the ball. Naka accepted this gift, moved forward a couple of paces only to be faced by the Orcs' favourite Greek meatball and while one central defender ran out the other ran back, thus guaranteeing that everyone was nicely on side. Maloney received the ball, shaped to shoot but instead fired the ball across the box to the unmarked John Hartson. If you were a defender and you were playing against a striker that had scored 100 goals for his club would you consider maybe marking him?

The second goal was pretty much a carbon copy of the second from the cup tie. A corner cleared back out to Naka, who left Murray tied in a reef knot before slinging in the cross. With no Klos to finish the move off Balde put this one in himself.

The third was a wonder of grit and determination by the Rangers defence, beginning with star summer signing Murray being relieved of the ball by hooped hardman Nakamura. He played the ball to Hartson who flicked it out to Stan. Under intense, sustained and brutal pressure from Murray Petrov stopped the ball, checked his watch, had a flick through the programme and finished his prawn sandwich before clipping the ball into McGeady. Scotland's greatest living Irishman hit a thundering shot goalwards despite a steely 'Aye Ready' challenge from the stalward Ricksen. Waterreus heroically dived but, alas, in vain as the ball rocketed past the stranded keeper. Or to put it another way, Murray was sleeping, the Rangers defence couldn't be arsed marking and the keeper looked every inch the Man City third choice as the ball trundled under his limp wristed effort to stop it.

I suppose we could complain that being 3:0 up with a half hour to go we really should have gone on to really grind them into the dirt, but as Andrews had already demonstrated with Maloney when the going gets tough for this Rangers team it's time to warm up the stretcher bearers. Would it be churlish and petty to point out that Thompson was shown red for a 'career threatening' challenge on a player who simply got up and walked away, while Andrews not only stayed on the pitch but had Jock Brown on Setanta praising him for not being a malicious player. How many times this season have teams been forced to use substitutes due to injury inflicted by Rangers 'hard but fair' tackles? Porto had to do it twice in one match, eventually finishing the game with 10 men because they had used all their subs by the time their second victim was targeted.

Still what goes around comes around and the fact that Prso pulled his hamstring chasing the ball back because he certainly couldn't trust his defence to win it back just says it all. The only sad thing is that Porto won't get a chance to thank him for the Glasgow kiss he provided them with a few weeks ago.