The Invincibles at Ibrox – Part 1…
Celtic’s last game in December 2016 began as the first one had, with black armbands and a minute’s silence. There had been a sombre start to proceedings at Fir Park, Motherwell earlier in the month, both sets of fans unveiling tribute banners to the victims of the Chapecoense FC air disaster, in a touching show of Scottish solidarity for the Brazilians who perished in Colombia.
This time around the venue was Ibrox on Hogmanay, and the people being remembered were those 66 supporters who had tragically lost their lives on Stairway 13 at the same venue on 2 January 1971, a day I remember so well. The tragedy occurred just moments after Rangers striker Colin Stein had scored a last-minute equaliser, a Jimmy Johnstone header having given Celtic the lead a few seconds before that as the match ended in a 1-1 draw.
My dad had stopped going to Ibrox some years earlier for his own reasons and, at nine, I was deemed much too young, so we were paying a Ne’erday visit to my uncle’s home in Barmulloch, when word came through of “trouble at the ground.” In those pre-mobile days, the details were a bit vague and I think the problem was initially believed to be fighting, a real concern as both my teenage brother and cousin were at the match. Both returned safely an hour or so later but by the end of the evening, the awful reality had unfolded, my abiding memory being the images of Jock Stein and Neil Mochan tending to the injured on the Ibrox pitch, the dense fog defeating the floodlights and merely adding to the surreal, nightmarish scenario.
Almost 46 years later, it was a very different stadium which greeted the 8,000-strong Celtic army who turned up in party mood. Long gone was the steep terracing around three sides of the ground, only the main stand remaining as a reminder of that grim day. I was both surprised and overjoyed to get a ticket and so made my way along Edmiston Drive to join the throng of singing Hoops.
It had been many years since I had walked this route, perhaps going back to the dying embers of Tony Mowbray’s reign. A refereeing masterclass from Dougie Dougie, with Scott Brown red-carded after Kyle Lafferty, not for the first or last time, feigned injury, whilst Madjid Bougherra, booked early on, survived any number of later assaults on Robbie Keane to remain on the field to watch Maurice Edu’s 93rd-minute winner. I had vowed that day that would be it for me and Ibrox. Long before Liquidation and Gallant Pioneers. Gardeners and “making friends on the journey.” Ibrox was a different place now, in every sense.
There were two changes from midweek in a Celtic side looking to end the year on a high. In came Moussa Dembele, his four goals in two previous games against Rangers giving him the nod over Leigh Griffiths, who took a seat on the bench. Callum McGregor returned from that ridiculous suspension for the challenge at Hamilton, with Ryan Christie a tad unfortunate to drop out the squad altogether.
The hosts started well, Stuart Armstrong’s timely challenge preventing a goal before they did take the lead in the 12th minute. It was a soft one to concede, Erik Sviatchenko beating Joe Garner to the ball before inexplicably giving it away, a pass played inside Emilio Izaguirre – making his 250th appearance in the Hoops – for James Tavernier to slide across the six-yard box to the waiting Kenny Miller, who gleefully netted his trademark goal against the club he once served. Garner had fallen awkwardly in the lead-up to the goal and failed to recover, replaced by Martyn Waghorn before the game restarted.
As the first half wore on, the class of the champions began to tell, and they were level just after the half-hour. First Scott Sinclair, pulled up incorrectly for offside as he bore down on Wes Foderingham’s goal, sprang the defensive trap a second time, only to see his effort beat the keeper but rebound off the inside of his post before being scrambled for a corner. Sinclair himself took the kick, his deep cross evading everyone except the lurking Dembele, who took a touch before rifling a ferocious left-footed volley through Foderingham and into the roof of the net. Superb stuff.
The teams went in all-square at the interval, but the big Frenchman should have enjoyed a second successive League hat-trick against the Ibrox side as the second half turned into a procession. First, he miskicked completely after Mikael Lustig’s clever pass found him unmarked on the penalty spot.
Then he did superbly well to twist his frame to meet Callum McGregor’s delightfully stood-up cross, only to watch the ball bounce up and onto the crossbar, the woodwork yet again coming to Rangers rescue, with Sinclair firing the rebound into the side net. With 20 minutes remaining, the Bristol-born winger did find the net to give Celtic the lead.
Patrick Roberts had replaced James Forrest only minutes earlier, when his trickery and sublime pass found Armstrong running behind the home defence. In a mirror-image of the opening goal of the game, the midfielder’s perfectly placed pass found Sinclair clear at the far post, his unerring finish making it 2-1.
Despite creating numerous chances, Celts almost paid for their inability to score a third, Miller’s shot in the 80th minute trickling past Craig Gordon before hitting the post and rolling clear. It would have been a travesty of justice had it gone in, but such things have happened before, especially there.
The whistle sounded to end the calendar year 2016 on the most positive of notes for those of us wearing the Hoops. I had deferred a journey to Wales for a New Year party with my in-laws to take in the game. It would be a pleasant drive down south later today, once I had dropped off the kids for their own celebrations.
The three points won today had seen the champions’ lead at the top extended to 19 points, still with a game in hand, a pretty-much unprecedented situation so early in the season. Celts had dropped just two points since Sinclair’s debut winner at Tynecastle and had now gone 24 domestic games unbeaten from the start of the season. The first silverware, the League Cup – our 100th major trophy – was already in the boardroom. With the possible exception of Europe, it was difficult to believe just how well the season to date had gone.
Mark Warburton was defiant, his post-match comments perhaps unwittingly reflecting how times had changed for those who watch their football at Ibrox, Aberdeen now threatening to overtake them in second spot and an unbeaten home record dating back to their Championship days destroyed by the runaway leaders.
“I’m not worried. My only focus is on Rangers. We want to take this club as high as we possibly can, get European football and kick on again. I’m not going to sit and say it was great that we got closer. We lost. We are second in the table, just got promoted last year and we are second but of course we want to go higher. I’m disappointed, obviously, as we’ve lost a game of football. We’ve also lost our record at home, which is more than disappointing. We had chances but you’ve got to take them. So, we have to learn from this.”
Conversely, Brendan Rodgers was enjoying every moment…
“A real, great advert for Scottish football. It was a brilliant result for us. We thoroughly deserved the win. First half, we didn’t start so well, we didn’t pass the ball well enough, but we were always a threat on the counter-attack. We talked before the game about what would happen if we fell behind, about dealing with pressure and finding solutions. But the most pleasing thing is [that]we stayed very calm and once we got the goal, we played our way back into the game again. We needed to adjust one or two things at half-time but [in the]second half we were brilliant. We were a threat every time we went forward. We’re disappointed only to have had two goals. I thought Scott [Sinclair] was incredible. For any supporter to watch a player play to that level in such a high-profile game was great.”
…well perhaps with one exception, the Celtic boss picking up an injury as he celebrated the winner.
“It was stupid, wasn’t it? I just slipped when the second goal went in. I was trying to set off on a wee sprint, but I slipped and pulled my calf. It was daft, so I couldn’t walk but I’m OK.”
That would be a rare domestic slip in a stunning opening to the season. It would now be time to rest, recover then regroup for the second half of the season. The title was there to be won and maybe, just maybe, there was the prospect of something very special come the spring.
Happy New Year!
Matt Corr
An extract from Invincible by Matt Corr, the story of Celtic’s wonderful, magical unbeaten Domestic Treble of 2016/17.
Follow Matt on twitter @Boola-vogue
