The timing of Celtic's victory in yesterday's Old Firm meeting could hardly have been more exquisitely calculated. A year after their cup defeat at the modest hands of Inverness Caledonian Thistle cost John Barnes his first managerial job, Martin O'Neill's rebuilt team took what may prove to have been a decisive step on the way to regaining the championship.
Last year Rangers won the title by a record margin of 21 points, and appeared invulnerable. Celtic, meanwhile, looked like a basket case. This morning, with 12 games left to play, the Parkhead club lead Hibernian by 11 points and Rangers by 12, and the quality of Celtic's play yesterday afternoon suggested that another record may be in the offing.
In a little over six months, by switching a handful of players and applying the sort of basic tactical principles that characterised the teams of his mentor, Brian Clough, O'Neill has wrought something close to a miracle. Although Alan Thompson's first-half goal was enough to win the game, the gap in every other sense was wide enough to induce terminal gloom in Celtic's ancestral rivals.
"We have to be realistic," Dick Advocaat, the Rangers manager, said. "It will be very difficult to catch them now."
There had been fears, following the overheated meeting between the teams in the League Cup on Wednesday, which featured three sending-offs and a stabbing and 41 arrests afterwards, that yesterday's rendezvous would provide the excuse for further trouble on and off the pitch. But although the atmosphere among the 59,496 spectators was electric throughout the encounter, the only significant blemish came with a red card for Fernando Ricksen, Rangers' right wing-back, on the stroke of half-time.
Both managers volunteered praise for the handling of the match by the experienced international referee, Hugh Dallas, who was perhaps a little fortunate that half-time arrived just in time to put an end to a five-minute period of fraying tempers which included bookings for Bobby Petta and Bert Konterman, as well as Ricksen's dismissal.
"In terms of discipline I thought we were excellent," O'Neill said. "I told the players not to get involved in anything but to walk away. It was important for us to keep all our players on the pitch."
Yet such is the way of things that the removal of Ricksen - shown a second yellow card for a foul on Tom Boyd - proved the catalyst for the transformation of Rangers from an utterly toothless outfit into a team capable of offering at least a moderate threat. With Tugay Kerimoglu arriving to support Barry Ferguson in midfield, and with Neil McCann moving up to support Tore Andre Flo, Rangers began to induce regular bouts of discomfort in the Celtic defence.
Ricksen had been replaced after 23 torrid minutes of the first meeting between the clubs this season, at Celtic Park back in August, when Celtic won 6-2. He had
not featured either in Rangers' subsequent 5-1 revenge at Ibrox in November or in the midweek cup defeat, and Advocaat admitted that he had been aware of the risk involved in exposing him, pleading a lack of suitable replacements. The Dutch defender's contribution was calamitous, his unwise attempt to steal ground at a throwin leading to the decisive goal. Everyone swipes the odd apple from a convenient tree. To take the whole orchard, however, invites trouble, and Ricksen's attempt to gain half the length of the touchline left Dallas with no option other than to award the throw to Celtic. Henrik Larsson received the ball before exchanging short passes with Chris Sutton and racing into the area, where his halfblocked shot fell into the stride of Thompson, who was racing through on the blind side of the defence and beat Stefan Klos without fuss.
The three previous meetings between the teams this season had produced 18 goals and a commensurate degree of mayhem, but although this latest match was never less than hectic it was devoid of malevolence. On this occasion the emotions involved in an Old Firm encounter were expressed in a scruffiness matched by the pitch, upon which hamburger cartons and crisp packets blew hither and thither.
Ramon Vega appeared to have given Celtic the lead after eight minutes with a header direct from Boyd's corner, but the referee had spotted an offence in the goalmouth. O'Neill's formation, with Didier Agathe and Petta providing width on both wings, kept the visitors' defence stretched, also ensuring that Ricksen and Arthur Numan were unable to support Flo and Kenny Miller, who languished in isolation until the interval.
Rangers' efforts to push forward inevitably left gaps at the rear, offering Celtic several opportunities to kill the match off. The best came when Larsson darted on to a through ball and drew the entire defence before squaring at speed to the unmarked Thompson, who fired over the bar from the edge of the area.
"This was a fantastic result for us," O'Neill said. "When they were down to 10 players they had to go for everything. There's no triumphalism in the dressingroom. It was a big win, and it gives us a bit of a cushion. But there are plenty of games to go yet, and plenty of mistakes to be made."
CELTIC: Douglas, Boyd, Mjallby (Tebily 54), Vega, Agathe, Thompson, Lambert, Lennon, Petta, Larsson, Sutton. Subs Not Used: Gould, Johnson, Healy, Smith. Booked: Petta. Goals: Thompson 17.
RANGERS: Klos, Konterman, Malcolm, Wilson, Ricksen, Ferguson, Albertz (Johnston 63), McCann, Numan, Flo, Miller (Tugay 46). Subs Not Used: Christiansen, Hughes, Carson. Sent Off: Ricksen (45). Booked: Ricksen, Konterman. Att: 59,496.
Referee: H Dallas (Scotland).
