2010-05-04: Celtic 2-1 Rangers, SPL

Trivia

• League is already over, but we tighten the difference to below ten, so it's now just 8pts. Still poor
• Our first league victory over Huns since Dec 2008!
• Sevens league wins in a row!
• Fortune scores first Old Firm goal, as does the very unlikely scored Lee Naylor!
• Wilson in the centre half position!

Review

After around 18 mths or so we've finally beaten the huns. Granted it was a dead rubber of a match, but we wanted to win to get us going again. Huns resorted to hacking and bashing but the referee was strong enough to card their worst offenders.

First goal came from the very unlikely source of a free kick from Lee Naylor! This came on the back of a very dominant first half, but we threw it away by letting ex-Celt Miller score. We responded quickly with Fortune heading us back into the lead from a long cross, makes up partially for his non goal in the last game v the huns at home.

Second half was more difficult, and we were too much under the cosh. Ah well but we held on and there were few genuine chances from either side. Rangers saw a red card at the death and we played away the final minutes to get some pride back.

Confidence is up and we must repeat this form consistently next season, but it was a good night for Celtic and more importantly Neil Lennon. He is fully deserving of all the credit that will come his way for the league run of late despite it being too late the salvage the title.

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BBC

Celtic triumphed in the final Old Firm game of the season as Rangers sustained a first derby defeat in over a year.
Lee Naylor's deflected free-kick gave the hosts an eighth-minute lead and Marc-Antoine Fortune headed Celtic's second after Kenny Miller had levelled.
Robbie Keane and Scott Brown threatened to add to Celtic's advantage.
Miller almost equalised for a second time when he struck the post before Rangers' Lee McCulloch was sent off after receiving a second booking.
Celtic's seventh straight Scottish Premier League win under interim manager Neil Lennon meant a third loss in the division for Rangers, who retained the championship last month.
Rangers were dealt an early injury blow when goalkeeper Allan McGregor landed awkwardly and was replaced by Neil Alexander.
And the substitute quickly had to pluck the ball out of the back of the net as Naylor's driven free-kick nicked off David Weir and flew into the corner.
The visitors looked for a quick reply and Miller's cross was nudged wide at the near post by Kyle Lafferty.

The Rangers players belied suggestions of the season's final meeting of the two sides being a meaningless match when they crowded referee Calum Murray to appeal against the award of a Celtic corner midway through the first half.
An incisive pass by Landry N'Guemo put Keane in on goal but Steven Smith's last-ditch tackle prevented the home side doubling their lead.
At the other end, Miller exchanged passes with Lafferty and evaded his marker, but the striker could not get his shot away before Boruc came off his line to scramble the ball clear.
However, Rangers kept up the pressure and Steven Whittaker's superb cross was headed past Boruc by the leaping Miller in the 43rd minute. Almost immediately, Celtic were back in front as another excellent delivery, this time by Naylor, was met by Fortune's downward header, Alexander unable to stop the ball as it squirmed through his legs.
A short passback by Darren O'Dea allowed Maurice Edu to steal the ball before it reached Boruc but the American's cutback was blazed over by Steven Davis to keep Celtic's lead intact at half-time.
Miller's shot was deflected wide by Mark Wilson minutes before the match's second goalkeeping substitution saw broken-finger victim Boruc replaced by Lukasz Zaluska.
Keane got another sight of goal when found by Diomansy Kamara's intelligent pass, but the on-loan Tottenham striker's tame shot with the outside of the right foot posed few problems for Alexander.
Miller, who had just fired over from another dangerous Whittaker delivery should have levelled after playing a one-two with Edu, the former Celtic man volleying wide from the edge of the box.

Brown was also guilty of a glaring miss when he headed over from point-blank range after O'Dea had nodded Naylor's corner back into the six-yard box.
Zaluska palmed out a deflected Davis shot as Rangers continued to press.
Lafferty's replacement Novo had a shot that appeared to strike the arm of O'Dea and, as the ball went loose, Miller drove against the post from a tight angle.
Aiden McGeady curled a shot over and was then fouled by McCulloch, prompting the Rangers player's second caution and subsequent dismissal near the end.

http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/sport/football/scottish/lennon-hits-out-at-smith-14792571.html#ixzz0n0sa6jo2

Neil Lennon told Walter Smith to mind his own business after the Rangers boss criticised Andreas Hinkel and the rest of the Celtic side following the Ibrox side's 2-1 defeat at Parkhead.

Hinkel had claimed before the game Celtic were a better side than the Clydesdale Bank Premier League champions.

Goals by Lee Naylor and Marc-Antoine Fortune gave the Hoops their first win of the season against the Light Blues who scored through Kenny Miller and had Lee McCulloch sent off near the end after picking up two yellow cards.

Afterwards Smith hit out at Hinkel and claimed Celtic had been a poor set of professionals before Lennon took over from sacked Tony Mowbray in March.

Hoops' interim boss Lennon said: "It's not Walter's place.

"He's not the Celtic manager and he has not affiliated with the club so those comments should be best left to someone at this club.

"Did I not make things clear after (the defeat to) Ross County?

"It was my place at the time and I asked the boys to prove me wrong and they have gone a long way to doing that.

"But I don't comment on Rangers, I never have done, certainly not as a manager anyway.

"I have been quite gracious abut Rangers, their performances and the way they have dealt with things.

"So I don't think it's Walter's place to criticise the Celtic players, he should leave that to people like myself."

The former Celtic captain claimed it had been "horrible" standing on the sidelines in his first Old Firm games as Hoops boss but admitted the victory meant more to him in his new role.

He said: "It probably meant more to me as a manager than a player.

"I didn't want a draw, I didn't want to get beat, I wanted a win and that's what I asked them to do at half-time, just win the game.

"It got a bit hairy at times, Old Firm games are quite like that.

"When you go a goal up subconsciously you drift deeper at times but it was a magnificent effort.

"I could see the goal coming for Rangers but the response was magnificent, to get the goal just before half time was great.

"It's not fair to single players out though, they all made massive contributions.

"I wanted to get them in at half time and settle them down.

"But it was hugely satisfying, a big three points, and some big performances from a lot of players, beating Rangers for the first time in a while.

"That was our cup final tonight, against a very good, very dangerous Rangers team and we won the game so I can't ask any more from them."