2011-12-28: Celtic 1-0 Rangers, SPL

Match Pictures | Matches: 2011 – 2012 | 2011-2012 Pictures

Trivia

• Celtic go top for the first time this season! 2pts in front.
• Celtic at start Nov were 15pts behind in the league (but two games in hand). A remarkable performance.
• Ledley scores winner. Avg age of Celts is just 22!!!
• 70-80mph winds all day in Scotland and it was freezing, match was possibly expected to be called off.
• Match played with strong wings prob 30mph. Celtic played into it in first half.
• Rangers had ball 90% over the line but saved by Forster. Balanced out with later Hooper opportunity clear through and called offside when not.
• Kayal stretchered off…. believe it's just an ankle injury.
• Journalist Graham Spiers: "A strange, almost pitiful 2nd half from Rangers at Parkhead, given they were allegedly ‘chasing’ the game from the 52nd minute."
• From Huns site: RM 'As much as it pains me to admit it, their end was rocking in the second-half. Every single one of those horrible, horrible bastards was doing that daft huddle thing and see when they started singing 'We Shall Not Be Moved', my heart sank. I effing despise them with an absolute and utter passion'
• L'Equipe on the Old Firm: "The Glasgow derby at Celtic Park remains the greatest spectacle in European football, but then the match starts."
• Jokes: "With gusts of up to 50 mph forecast, how is Sone Aluko going to stay on his feet?"; "It's amazing the change in temperature in Scotland. It's gone from -15 to +2 in just 8 weeks."

Review

(pauljames213 of KDS forum)
Just back and absolutely knackered. Noone sat down tonight. Don't think i could cope with a standing section 😆

It was a scrappy game in horrible conditions so was never going to be pretty but at least Celtic tried to play some football. If every team chose to play like the huns, football would be be dead as an entertainment within 6 months! I couldnt pay to watch that every week.

We showed a lot of heart and spirit to grind it out and great credit to Rogne and Mulgrew. I said before that he would learn from the LC final of last season and he did. He wasn't naive and didnt give Jelavic the chance to go down looking for free kicks. Ledley and Matthews were good and the keeper dealt with everything comfortably.

Hope Kayal is ok as i thought him/Wanyama and Brown were really good tonight. Forrest struggled a wee bit with his final ball but caused the problems every time he got on the ball. They were needing 2/3 players to shut him down.

Hooper struggled and looks like he needs a rest. Hopefully a striker coming in to take the pressure off him :pray: Samaras put in another good shift and the huns struggled to contain him. Keep up the good work :thumbsup:

All the huns had was a long ball and looking for flick ons. They are a quite shameful throwback. They are so one dimensional. I was at the game so havent seen a replay but thought Healy should have been off for his foul on Forrest.

Also, how many times is that big geek going to avoid getting sent off for that same tackle? seen him leave his boot in on the full back several times now and someone is going to get seriously hurt.

Havent seen the header if it was over or not but balanced out i think by the lenient approach of Collum to some of the hun antics and the north stand linesman who chose to pull Hooper up when through on goal.

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Celtic 1 – 0 Rangers: Ledley’s goal sends Celtic top of the league

The Scotsman

Published on Wednesday 28 December 2011 22:21

JOE Ledley’s second-half goal gave Celtic victory over Rangers at Parkhead and took them two points clear of their Old Firm rivals at the top of the Clydesdale Bank Premier League.

The key moment of the first half came when Rangers midfielder Lee Wallace’s early header may have crossed the line before Hoops keeper Fraser Forster clawed it back.

However, after Ledley buried his header from a Charlie Mulgrew corner into the back of the net seven minutes after the break, the home side stamped their superiority on the game and ran out deserved winners.

It was Celtic’s ninth SPL win in a row and confirmed the turnaround in fortunes since November 5, when they were 15 points behind the champions, albeit with two games in hand.

Neil Lennon’s men look to have the bit between their teeth while struggling Rangers have it all to do to recapture their form and on the evidence of tonight, that is likely to need fresh faces when the January transfer window opens.

Lennon made two changes to his in-form side, both something of a surprise.

Right-back Adam Matthews replaced Cha Du-ri while defender Thomas Rogne came in for Ki Sung-yueng and swapped places with Victor Wanyama who moved into midfield.

Rangers boss Ally McCoist made three changes, one enforced after defender Dorin Goian was sent off against St Mirren at the weekend.

Kyle Bartley took Goian’s spot while Kirk Broadfoot came in for the injured Steven Whittaker and wideman Sone Aluko, instead of Maurice Edu, replaced Gregg Wylde, a decision believed to have been made after arrival at the ground.

Midfielder Lee McCulloch remained in the side after the Govan club appealed the red card picked up at St Mirren Park.

Celtic skipper Scott Brown tried to intimidate Wallace as they lined up for kick-off, staring intensely at the Rangers midfielder.

However, in the seventh minute Wallace’s header at the back post from an Aluko cross looked like it may have crossed the line before Forster forced it back onto the post.

As the driving wind gave way, but only a little, to torrential rain, Celtic took the initiative.

Brown had a drive from 14 yards saved by Allan McGregor before Hoops striker Georgios Samaras had the ball in the Light Blues’ net only to be ruled offside.

The conditions continued to dominate the game but in the 24th minute, after Aluko’s corner from the left had been headed goalwards by striker Nikica Jelavic, Rangers defender Carlos Bocanegra inadvertently helped the ball over the bar from two yards.

However, the Hoops had the best of the possession and in the 35th minute striker Gary Hooper took a Samaras knock-down, turned and forced McGregor into another save before James Forrest blazed an angled drive over the bar following a corner.

Both sides went at each other from the start of the second half but it was Celtic who struck after McGregor had tipped a great drive from Forrest over the bar for a corner.

From Mulgrew’s delivery from the right, Ledley rose high in a packed penalty area to direct his header past the Rangers keeper.

The complexion of the game changed immediately.

Rangers were on the ropes, trying desperately to stem the green and white tide and the Ibrox side were lucky to escape when Hooper appeared to be wrongly flagged offside as he raced clear of the visiting defence.

Aluko was replaced by Wylde after 66 minutes as McCoist tried to inspire a response from his side which came in the form of a couple of spectacular efforts from Jelavic, one of which flew over the bar and the other into the arms of Forster.

In the 76th minute Celtic midfielder Beram Kayal went off injured on a stretcher, to be replaced by Ki, after a clash with McCulloch which originally looked to have hurt the Ibrox player more.

Moments later, McCulloch and Wallace went off to be replaced by Edu and David Healy, who was soon booked for a scything touchline tackle on Forrest.

As the game entered the final stages, and Celtic had not sealed the win, the tension increased and the visitors looked in danger of losing the plot.

With four minutes remaining Rangers striker Kyle Lafferty was booked for a late challenge on Matthews before Anthony Stokes replaced Hooper.

There were five added minutes but Rangers, desperate as they were, failed to threaten Forster leaving Celtic deserved winners and league leaders going into 2012.

Celtic 1-0 Rangers

Page last updated at 21:48 GMT, Wednesday, 28 December 2011
By Colin Moffat

BBC Scotland

Ledley headed Celtic in front early in the second half Celtic leapfrogged Rangers at the top of the Scottish Premier League thanks to Joe Ledley's second-half header.

Celtic's Fraser Foster made a wonderful save from an early Lee Wallace header and was relieved to see Carlos Bocangera shoot wide from close range.

But Celtic dominated the second half and Ledley crashed in a header from a Charlie Mulgrew corner on 52 minutes.

Rangers offered little in response and Celtic made it nine league wins in a row with ease.

Having trailed by 15 points on 5 November – albeit with two games in hand, Celtic go into the new year with a two-point advantage in the title race.

Celtic did most of the pressing in a disjointed first half but the best chances fell to the visitors, who have now dropped 11 points in their last seven outings.

Six minutes had passed when Wallace raced in at the back post to meet Sone Aluko's cross from the right but Forster made a terrific save to claw the midfielder's close-range header away.

Television replays later suggested the ball had crossed the line but there was little in the way of protest from the men in blue.

On 23 minutes, an Aluko corner was nodded down by Nikica Jelavic and Bocangera could only awkwardly scoop the ball wide from inside the six yard box.

Rangers goalkeeper Allan McGregor was kept busy, but the saves he made to keep out shots from Scott Brown, Gary Hooper and James Forrest were routine.

Georgios Samaras found the net after reaching the scraps from Hooper's effort but the Greek striker had strayed offside.

McGregor fumbled under pressure from Samaras but the ball fell kindly for the Rangers defence before the Scotland keeper smothered another shot from Hooper.

Celtic started the second half in determined fashion, with Kyle Bartley and Bocanegra making vital blocks to thwart the home side and McGregor tipping over a rising strike from Forrest before Ledley made the breakthrough.

The Wales international simply wanted it more as he outmuscled Kirk Broadfoot at the back post to power in a header from Mulgrew's corner kick.

Buoyed by the goal, Celtic had Rangers pinned back, with the visitors defending desperately in and around their penalty box.

And the home fans were none too pleased when Hooper was erroneously flagged offside after bursting through on goal from a Samaras flick near the halfway line.

The game grew increasingly ugly and scrappy as Beram Kayal was stretched off after a crunching tackle from Lee McCulloch and Rangers substitute David Healy was guilty of a dreadful hack at Forrest.

Kyle Lafferty joined Healy in referee Willie Collum's book for a lunge at Adam Matthews, while Anthony Stokes picked up a caution for a spot of retribution on the Northern Irishman.

Rangers launched a series of hopeful balls forward in the closing minutes but Celtic were able to preserve their lead with the minimum of fuss.