Hartson strike seals Old Firm win

Celtic 2 Rangers 1

John Hartson hauled himself up to the top table with the Parkhead legends today by netting the Old Firm winner to send the Ibrox men crashing out of the Tennent’s Scottish Cup.

The Welsh international striker expressed his desire to become a great alongside Henrik Larsson after putting pen to paper on a new two-year contract extension on Friday.

And if there was any uncertainty over his status with the Celtic fans, then that was secured with his second-half strike to banish their double November disappointment.

Chris Sutton erased the memory of his sending off in the Old Firm’s last ugly confrontation with the opener but Fernando Ricksen seemed to have won his side a replay back at Ibrox.

However 29-year-old Hartson had other ideas as the holders took a huge step towards retaining the trophy and gained a huge psychological edge for the championship battle that lies ahead.

Both sides of the divide were under immense pressure to behave themselves on the park after the terrible scenes which marred Celtic’s league defeat at Ibrox in November.

Rangers started the brighter of the two sides after two successive victories over their arch rivals and rejuvenated Celtic goalkeeper Robert Douglas needed to sprint off his line to claim at the feet of Dado Prso in the eighth minute.

Stefan Klos made a great save to deny Celtic the opener in the 14th minute after a trademark Alan Thompson free-kick had caused all sorts of problems in the Rangers box.

He curled the ball to the back post where Hartson was lurking but he watched in disbelief as Klos somehow stopped his header from point-blank range by his post and Marvin Andrews was in the right place at the right time to clear from under his crossbar.

The Rangers defender almost became a hero at the other end as he rose above the Celtic defence after a cross from Bojan Djordjic, who was thrown into the lions den for his debut after his move from Manchester United, but he headed over the crossbar from five yards.

It seems amazing that nobody from England has come in for Klos and he illustrated his worth to Rangers again in the 28th minute as they survived a goalmouth scramble.

McGeady’s cross caused the problems as both players fought for the ball inside the area and the youngster’s effort looked destined for the back of the net but a grounded Klos clawed the ball away from his goal and his defence were able to clear the danger.

But there was little he could do to prevent the champions from taking the lead when he was let down by his defence after the simplest of moves in the 37th minute.

Hartson flicked on Douglas’ long punt downfield and Sutton got ahead of the sleepy Andrews to prod the ball through the advancing keeper’s legs from just inside the area.

The petulant Ricksen let his frustration get the better of him and he earned himself a booking moments later when he fouled the jubilant goalscorer.

But Rangers snatched the equaliser after just a minute of the second-half as they capitalised on some desperately poor defending by the home side.

Alan Hutton swung an inviting cross into the danger area and Ricksen was quick to react to plant his header across goal and into the bottom corner of the net.

That woke up the sleeping giants and they carved a decent opening in the 51st minute which Petrov failed to convert.

The Bulgarian did well to control Thompson’s cross and cut inside Gregory Vignal but he struck his left-foot effort straight at Klos.

But the German needed Zurab Khizanishvili to come to his rescue moments later when he failed to catch McGeady’s intended cross and as he crashed to the ground on his back, he was relieved to see the Georgian had got back on his line to hook the ball away.

Andrews was the next Rangers hero in the 56th minute as he too got back on his line to keep the ball out after Sutton had headed Thompson’s corner goalwards from seven yards.

Rangers responded themselves by slicing open their opponents’ defence but Douglas was alert to Ricksen’s clever lob over the top and he gathered under pressure from Novo.

The Celtic players were appealing for a penalty when Thompson’s free-kick struck Djordjic before Hartson headed McGeady’s cross over the top from under the crossbar.

McLeish responded by bringing on new signing Buffel for Djordjic in the 67th minute and one of his first contributions was to clip the heels of Agathe but from Thompson’s resulting free-kick Sutton’s glancing header flew wide.

Novo almost got on the end of Andrews’ long ball before Hartson sparked wild celebrations by firing his side back into the lead in the 77th minute.

Agathe’s cross seemed harmless enough as Sutton missed it but Andrews failed to deal with it and the Welshman arrived at the back post to poke the ball past Klos.

At the other end Douglas threw himself to his right to touch Novo’s backheel, from Prso’s ball, around the post as Rangers pushed for another leveller.

Petrov could have killed the Ibrox men off with seven minutes remaining after great work from Sutton but his right-foot shot was comfortably saved by Klos.

Hartson was booked late in front of the visiting fans but that only added to his hero status among the celebrating Parkhead supporters at the final whistle.