Matt O’Riley helps Celtic see off 10-man Rangers to all but secure Scottish title
Celtic now have one hand and four fingers on yet another league trophy.
This bitty encounter will not feature on any list of all-time Old Firm clashes but Brendan Rodgers has no cause to care. Victory moves Celtic six points ahead of Rangers with just two games to play. Theirs was a fully deserved success, this blunt Rangers side playing the entire second period with 10 men.
At one point, Celtic had threatened to steamroll their visitors. Matt O’Riley fired home from 18 yards to break the deadlock, shortly before John Lundstram bundled the ball into his own net. With 38 minutes played, Celtic were in dreamland. Rangers responded. Cyriel Dessers headed in from close range after Dujon Sterling knocked a Fábio Silva cross into his path.
Legitimate Rangers hope was soon extinguished by the madness of Lundstram. There was no requirement whatsoever for the midfielder to lunge in on Alistair Johnston but that was precisely what Lundstram did. The only surprise was that the referee, Willie Collum, originally flashed a yellow card. After the video assistant referee advised Collum to take a second look, the matter was appropriately corrected. Lundstram is one of a number of serial failures in this Rangers team.
The second half was pretty much a nonevent. Celtic completely dominated, without placing Jack Butland under concerted pressure. The former England goalkeeper was called into action from 12 yards after Mohamed Diomande was adjudged to have upended O’Riley. The decision was soft but proved irrelevant anyway after O’Riley’s lazy penalty was batted away by Butland.
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Daizen Maeda, whose trickery had preceded Lundstram’s own goal, had the ball in the net for a Celtic third but the offside flag was raised. Adam Idah should have scored in added time but fluffed his lines.
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Rangers lacked nothing in battling spirit but really never looked like restoring parity. Celtic know any form of reward from Wednesday evening in Kilmarnock will ensure a successful title defence. Rodgers returned to Glasgow for moments such as these.