Glasgow Derby joy as Celtic triumph at Ibrox to go six points clear

A fine performance from Celtic, playing a game that is alien to us for most of the game. Full marks to Ange for his tactics which were absolutely spot-on, especially his substitutions which showed a great deal of common sense and understanding of the way that they game was going. It wasn’t a spectacular win, but then again it was never likely to be. But it was a win, and Celtic are that bit closer to the League title. Full marks to the players for resisting the opening barrage and fighting back!

IMAGO / Shutterstock Photo by Luke Nickerson

Not that I wish to rain on anyone’s parade, but it is important to keep the lid on this. There are six League games – St Johnstone, Rangers, Hearts and, at a guess, Dundee United, Hibs and Motherwell. These can be difficult fixtures, and we have to win four of them. League titles have been thrown away from winning positions like this before – remember 1980, 1983 and 2011! Take one game at a time, and no nonsense.

My man of the match was Callum McGregor. Once again, he was all over the place, defence, midfield and even up front, but the central defenders were also of a different class, showing above all else courage and not being afraid to get in the way of the ball when it was necessary.

Full backs were also good, with Juranovic recovering well from his first nightmarish five minutes. Neither of our goals were classics, but they were brought about by hard work and the ability to be in the right place when required. Giakoumakis and Maeda will have better games, but as the pundits kept saying, their work rate was excellent and in that respect, they gave theRangers defence enough to do. Abada had two good chances to kill the game.

The second was perhaps a good save, but there was no excuse for the first one. Oh, and please, Ange, remind Joe Hart that he is allowed to pick the ball up! He doesn’t need to get himself into trouble the way that he did.

And now to the three people that we don’t seem to like very much. Willie Collum, I thought, handled the game well, not making a rod for his own back by early yellow cards. He also did not award penalties, and although he may have got the odd minor decision wrong, he was spot on with the big ones.

Ally McCoist was also fair in his assessment of the game, and Kris Boyd was dignified in defeat and had the grace to give Celtic some praise. Ally and Kris are totally insufferable when they win, but when they lose… they are probably pretty decent human beings.

But the cretin who threw the broken glass on to the pitch at the start of the second half is anything but a decent human being! Anyone with half a brain can surely see that broken glass is just as dangerous to theRangers players as well as Celtic ones! Did no-one behind that goal point him out? And why was the area behind that goal not immediately festooned with policemen? That game went on TV all round the world, and here we have Glasgow at its worst again!

So, enjoy it folks, particularly our gallant 700 including Lubo98 who was there reporting for The Celtic Star! St Johnstone at Parkhead on Saturday. Do not underestimate them!

David Potter