On This Day in 2022, Celtic took a huge step towards regaining the Cinch Premiership title with a win over Rangers at Ibrox. First-half goals from Tom Rogic and Cameron Carter-Vickers cancelled out Aaron Ramsey’s early opener as the win takes Celtic six points clear with six games to go.
Rangers enjoyed a perfect start with Ramsey capitalising on an uncharacteristic positional mishap from Josip Juranovic to slide in a Ryan Kent cross. Ibrox erupted. Less than five minutes later, Celtic settled and thanks to Tom Rogic, they silenced the home support and sent the 700 fans in the corner into wild celebrations. Captain Callum McGregor drove beyond three Rangers players before finding Rogic in the box. His initial touch and shot was blocked by Goldson but Hatate’s shot could only be parried to the Australian, who slotted it away on the half volley.
The winner came from an unlikely source. Carter-Vickers showed a striker’s instinct as he flashed a knockdown from a Jota freekick. Rangers allowed the ball to bounce and the USA Internationalist fired the ball into the net. The goal sparked scenes of ecstasy in the Celtic end. The halftime scenes from the away end were jubilant. The turnaround silenced the Rangers support.
The second half saw Celtic retreat into their own half opting to allow Rangers the ball wide and cross – for Starfelt and Carter-Vickers to header clear.
Celtic were robust at the back and tenacious in the press. Maeda and Giakoumakis typified the work rate across the team, working back and finding themselves in defensive areas doing their bit for the team. It was a different Celtic performance to what we have been accustomed to under Ange but it was such an important win.
Hopefully there will be a similar result for Celtic on Sunday.
