Kai Watson: A Not So Super Sunday for the Old Firm
Derek McInnes and Hearts fans will have had a brilliant Sunday after watching their two closest rivals drop points. Rangers travelled to Home of the Set Fare Arena to face bottom of the table Livingston and Celtic hosted fifth place Hibs at Celtic Park.
Hibs hadn’t won at Celtic Park since January 2010 and Livingston hadn’t won in the league since matchday two so fans of each Old Firm side were probably confident in victories. Rangers started brightly against Livingston but just fourteen minutes in came the first shock of the day.
John Souttar misjudged a bouncing ball and gave away a foul not far away from the centre circle. Robbie Muirhead stepped up and whipped in an incredible left-footed cross which was met by an equally incredible finish by Brooklyn Kabongolo, some way to open your club account!
Lewis Smith then had a chance to make it 2-0 but Tuur Rommens recovered brilliantly when it looked like Smith was one-on-one with Butland. Rangers had multiple chances in the first half with Chermiti and Chukwuani somehow failing to get the ball over the line from a scramble in the box. Manny Fernandez also fired a left-footed volley over the bar which was a half decent chance.
Meanwhile, at Parkhead, Celtic found themselves one-nil down in the 24th minute from a flying Felix Passlack header via an unbelievable Nicky Cadden cross. Rangers went in 1-0 down at half-time but Celtic equalised in first-half injury time when Nygren headed in from another brilliant cross, this time it was Kieran Tierney getting the assist.
I think at half-time, both Glasgow sides would have still fancied their chances of finishing the game with three points. Rangers' task was made much more difficult on the 56th minute though as Danso played through Lewis Smith who fired a low left-footed drive under Jack Butland but just four minutes later, Rangers were handed a lifeline.
Djeidi Gassama got away from Cristian Montano but the Colombian pulled him down and it was a pretty simple decision to give the red card. From that moment Rangers had all the possession and chances but it took until the 81st minute for a breakthrough when Manny Fernandez controlled the ball well and smashed a right-footed shot into the roof of the net.
Plenty of crosses and touches in the box later, Mikey Moore glanced in a James Tavernier cross on the 88th minute and it was level with NINE minutes added on! At Celtic Park there was also a red card, for Celtic centre back Auston Trusty, his second of the season.
A controversial one in my opinion but the home side had to play the last 16 minutes with ten-men. Hibs would take advantage of this as, in the 88th minute, Ante Suto laid the ball to Kai Andrews who calmly picked his spot and slotted a shot into Schmeichel’s left corner, a brilliant time to get your first professional goal!
Then there was controversy in West Lothian as a Bojan Miovski flick on was controlled by Mikey Moore who looked to be brought down right on the edge of the box by Cammy Kerr but the referee didn’t give anything in the moment. The tackle was then extensively checked by VAR until the decision was made.. Just restart the game.
A decision that I’m sure will dominate the headlines and podcasts this week! Rangers couldn’t get any more clear cut chances and neither did Celtic so the matches ended 2-2 and 2-1 respectively.
This leaves Hearts four points clear of Rangers and six clear of Celtic although the latter has a game in hand. Celtic travel to Ibrox next week and it feels like defeat for either side could potentially spell the end of their title charge.
Who do you think will win next Sunday and what result will Derek McInnes and Hearts be hoping for?
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