Kai Watson: Rangers Falter First in the Split
This weekend the Scottish Premiership returned and now it’s time for the split. Normally at this stage of the season, in recent years at least, Celtic would have the title wrapped up or just a win or two away.
That’s absolutely not the case this season though and going into the first set of split fixtures, the champions sat in third place, one point behind Rangers and three behind leaders Hearts. Celtic played first, knowing that a win would put massive pressure on their title rivals and a defeat would give both a massive boost for their games on Sunday.
At 17:30 on Saturday, Celtic hosted Falkirk at Celtic Park in what should be, on paper, their easiest match up in the split. Falkirk started relatively well and kept a decent amount of possession whilst opening the game out but not creating many clear cut chances.
On the 30th minute though, Daizen Maeda was up to his usual tricks, Keelan Adams dallied on the ball and Celtic’s Japanese forward nicked it and curled a nice finish around Nicky Hogarth who was pushed up due to Falkirk being in possession. Just before half-time, it became more comfortable as Broggio fell victim to Maeda’s relentlessness as he then turned provider, sliding the ball to Tierney who left Hogarth with no chance of saving his thunderous left-footed strike, game over?
Celtic didn’t come out and build on that though and they sat back and let Falkirk have the ball, which resulted in McCann floating a ball over to substitute Kyrell Wilson who controlled it well before unleashing an excellent right-footed effort that left Sinisalo with no chance.
Falkirk were pushing for an equaliser but were caught by some good work by Tounetki and his cut back was met by the back in form Maeda who sent the ball back where it came from into the opposite corner, another great finish.
That was the end of the game and Celtic went joint top!
Rangers were up first on Sunday as they kicked off at 3pm at Ibrox and started the game brightly but that wouldn’t last long. A great move down the left by O’Donnell and Fadinger ended with the Austrian midfielder's low effort going under Butland to make it 1-0.
Just nine minutes later, it was 2-0 as an unbelievable Tom Sparrow cross was fired home by the unmarked Longelo at the back post. Rangers' plan wasn’t working and the fans were getting anxious.
Danny Rohl waited until half time to make any changes and made three with Tavernier, Moore and Diomande coming on. The latter helped to change the game and six minutes into the second half, he slipped through Chermiti whose good footwork got him one on one with Ward and he slotted it home calmly.
Rangers were pushing for an equaliser and with twenty minutes to go, Fernandez headed back across goal, Chermiti rose highest and headed it down, off of Raskin’s head, for the Belgian international to make it 2-2.
Rangers were in the ascendency and Aasgaard missed an unbelievable chance to make it 3-2 which would come back to bite them. A quick Ward throw in the last minute sent O’Donnell away and he played it over to Longelo, who cut inside and his shot was turned in by Manny Fernandez.
It wasn’t over though as the ball bounced in the box it ended up at Chermiti who was in on Ward but the ‘keeper made an excellent save but the Portuguese striker really should have made it 3-3.
It ended 3-2 and ensured Rangers would end the weekend in third.
Hearts travelled to Easter Road for one of the biggest Edinburgh derbies in recent memory. Dropping points would mean their title rivals moved closer and Rangers were still playing as this one kicked off.
Hibs drew first blood as Martin Boyle, who recently announced he was leaving, put Hibs in front on seven minutes but the joy was short lived. Seven minutes later a moment of madness from Sallinger occurred as he caught the ball outside of the box with Kabore rushing in and was given a straight red card.
Hearts pushed but couldn’t get an equaliser and it was 1-0 at half-time. Another moment of madness occurred just after half-time as Passlack flew into a tackle and picked up his second yellow, no complaints there.
Hibs now had nine men and 40 minutes left to play. They were hemmed in as Hearts came forward with wave after wave of attack. Kerjota came on at the break and made a huge difference to Hearts' attack. He took Obita down the line and his right footed cross was flicked by Shankland but ultimately the final touch was off of O’Hora who didn’t keep up with Hearts’ Captain.
With five minutes left, the leaders were struggling until Kerjota took Obita on again before laying it off to Spittal who kept his composure to slot the ball beyond Smith, with thanks to a slight Bushiri.
That sent the Hearts fans into rapture and that’s how the game finished.
Here’s the current table;
Hearts - 73pts
Celtic - 70pts
Rangers - 69pts
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