The Irish Times - Thursday, March 3, 2011

Celtic go through as Rangers see red

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EWAN MURRAY at Celtic Park

Celtic 1 Rangers 0: RANGERS crossed Glasgow in search of retribution. From the moment of Steven Whittaker’s dismissal, nine minutes before half-time, that prospect never seemed likely.

Madjid Bougherra took Rangers down to nine men in stoppage time, with El Hadji Diouf also shown a red card after the final whistle.

There were to be no reprisals from the Ibrox team for Celtic’s comfortable SPL win only days earlier. The vulgarities of an ugly contest aside, Celtic have ended any Rangers hopes of a domestic treble. They have also continued an impressive Old Firm record, which shows only one derby loss in a year. Celtic’s elimination of Rangers from the Scottish Cup merely endorses the growing sense of who is presently Glasgow’s dominant force.

This won’t rank anywhere near Celtic’s finer performances of the campaign. Still, when such old foes meet only victory counts. The wounds inflicted on Rangers by a comprehensive defeat at this venue 10 days earlier aside, the visitors were further damaged by a pre-match injury sustained by the influential Nikica Jelavic. In the Croat’s absence, Diouf was deployed as a lone striker.

If scales of significance ever apply to an Old Firm fixture, Ally McCoist’s role in this one was intriguing. It was finally confirmed last week that McCoist will succeed Walter Smith as the Rangers manager next season, with a fascinating battle against Neil Lennon likely to ensue. Given McCoist, currently Smith’s assistant is handed extra responsibility for Scottish Cup matches there was cause to view a bigger picture here.

The Rangers policy was one of containment. That worked pretty well in the opening exchanges, with a long-range effort from Ki the total of Celtic’s attacking exploits. At the other end, Diouf had once again proved his footballing talent shouldn’t be overlooked despite regular acts of lunacy.

But his alter ego soon came to the fore. As Whittaker saw red on account of a second caution Diouf remonstrated with both the fourth official and Lennon. A contest which had hitherto simmered had suddenly boiled over. Dangerously for Rangers given his questionable temperament, Diouf collected a yellow card for his role in proceedings.The hosts began the second period with an obvious policy of enforcing their one-man advantage. It took them just three minutes to do exactly that. Mark Wilson’s fierce attempt was blocked by the head of Sasa Papac on the Rangers goalline. The Celtic full-back bounced the rebound off the ground and into the net. Papac left the field on a stretcher because of concussion.

Bougherra gave the home support cause for cheer by picking up a second booking, with Diouf then guilty of losing the plot.

Guardian Service

CELTIC: Zaluska, Wilson, Majstorovic, Mulgrew, Izaguirre, Brown, Ki, Kayal, Commons, Hooper, Samaras. Subs Not Used: Cervi, Juarez, Stokes, Rogne, Forrest. Booked: Majstorovic, Brown, Wilson.

RANGERS: McGregor, Foster, Weir, Bougherra, Papac (Wylde 51), Bartley, Whittaker, Edu, Davis, Fleck (Hutton 46), Diouf. Subs Not Used: Alexander, Healy, Kerkar. Sent Off: Whittaker (36), Bougherra (90), Diouf (95). Booked: Whittaker, Diouf, Fleck, Bougherra, Davis, Foster, Hutton.

Referee: Calum Murray (Scotland).