Celtic go top with Old Firm win

Rangers 0 Celtic 1

A deflected strike from John Hartson 20 seconds into the second half gave Celtic victory in the opening Old Firm derby of the season and lifted them above Rangers to the summit of the SPL.

The Hoops were worth the three points they ended up taking from a tired-looking Rangers side that failed to create any decent chances.

Hartson seems always to be at the centre of something memorable on derby day, be it a goal or a penalty miss, and today he was responsible for smashing Rangers’ 100% start to the season.

The game was no classic however and was a far cry from previous Old Firm games that had sensational starts with Chris Sutton netting after just 19 seconds and 6-2, 5-1 and 3-3 scorelines all racked up since Martin O’Neill entered the Celtic dug-out.

But Celtic, ever mindful of their rivals’ weary bodies following a long haul back from Greece in midweek, will simply regard this as a job well done.

All the best opportunities belonged to the visitors, with Alan Thompson the first to force Stefan Klos into a save in the 10th minute.

Rangers captain Craig Moore had been at fault by allowing Henrik Larsson to rob him on the touchline and reach the box, where he laid the ball back for the Englishman to fire in a low drive that the goalkeeper could only parry.

Thompson took a knock and was forced off in the 24th minute to be replaced by Michael Gray, the on-loan Sunderland utility man.

Celtic switched to the 4-4-2 formation that had surprised Alex McLeish the last time the two teams met at Ibrox and led to a 2-1 away win.

All the pre-match talk had centred around the game’s close proximity to Rangers’ Champions League game with Panathinaikos, with the squad not getting back to Glasgow until 5am on Thursday.

McLeish had obviously decided his players had recovered sufficiently to name an unchanged side.

The latter effort was a reply to another, better chance, for Celtic when Klos had denied Hartson with a fine save after Stilian Petrov had got free in the box to set him up in front of goal.

Rangers’ half was summed up by a 45th-minute booking for Zura Khizanishvili, who hauled Petrov down to halt a swift counter-attack.

Moore, who had only had a game and a half following six weeks out with a hamstring problem, did not return after the break, so Maurice Ross came on at right back and Khizanishvili went into the centre.

And within 20 seconds the new-look defence found itself breached by an extraordinary Hartson effort.

The Welshman had been involved in the build-up but when he received the ball from Larsson on the right hand side of the box few were expecting the resulting effort that beat Klos and went in off the crossbar despite the angle.

A deflection off Khizanishvili had seemingly helped deceive the goalkeeper.

Rangers made another change in the 52nd minute with Egil Ostenstad replacing the ineffective Nuno Capucho.

Shota Arveladze had been quiet but cut inside from the right to fire in a powerful drive only to see Neil Lennon in the way.

The Georgian hardly tested Hedman with a first-time effort and for the main part Celtic were more than able to keep the play away from their own goalmouth.

The home side became more and more desperate and Henning Berg was optimistic when he tried to beat Hedman from long range.

The Norwegian kept his side in the game seconds later at the other end however when he was first to a loose ball in front of goal when Larsson tried to pounce on a Petrov shot that had been spilled by Klos.

Klos did better straight after when Larsson found Petrov in space in the box and it needed a brave dive at his feet to hold up the Bulgarian, which allowed defenders to get in the way of the shot when the ball was eventually laid back to Didier Agathe.

Rangers’ low energy levels were all too evident when Emerson tried a long-range effort that trickled off his boot a few feet ahead of him.

Indeed, their best chance of the second half came from Celtic’s Stanislav Varga, who headed over his own goalkeeper in the final minute and on to the roof of the net.

It was Celtic’s third successive Old Firm win and the second on the trot at Ibrox, with Rangers previously having enjoyed nothing but success once McLeish had succeeded Dick Advocaat.

It is also four seasons since Rangers have won the opening Old Firm derby and though the journey back from Greece is a valid explanation for their tepid performance it is not an excuse as, as every Celtic fan would be quick to point out, Celtic had won in April after making a similar return from Portugal.