If Brendan Rodgers could just face Rangers every week, he may have few problems. This marked his 15th Old Firm game over two tenures at Celtic. He has tasted defeat once. That Philippe Clement is the fifth permanent Rangers manager Rodgers has faced tells a story.
When Celtic were in need of a kickstart to this season in September, they went to Ibrox and won comfortably. Something about this derby time and again brings out the best in a Rodgers team.
Rodgers played down the sense of needing a statement result before a ball was kicked in this, the second Old Firm match of the campaign. The league table told another story. Rangers arrived in the east end on an unbeaten run of 16 matches under Clement, with their two games in hand holding potential to cancel out Celtic’s five point advantage. This game carried huge significance, primarily to ease some Celtic jitters.
St Mirren enjoyed a happy ending to 2023 as Stephen Robinson's men finished the year with a 3-0 win over Aberdeen that improves their standing in the top six of the Premiership.
The Buddies took the lead through captain Mark O'Hara's deflected strike before the same man missed from the penalty spot. However, Jonah Ayunga doubled the lead before Greg Kiltie scored from the penalty spot in injury-time to cap the victory.
Lawrence Shankland continued his red-hot scoring form as Hearts came from two goals down to draw 2-2 at home to Ross County.
After the controversial decision not to award the Jambos a penalty when Alan Forrest appeared to be tripped by Ross Laidlaw early in the second half, County looked on course for victory following an Alex Cochrane own goal and a stunning free-kick from Yan Dhanda. But substitute Kenneth Vargas sparked Hearts' fightback with a cool finish before Shankland, the Premiership's top scorer, netted his 17th of the season and his 12th in 13 matches to secure a draw that kept his team two points clear of Kilmarnock in third place with a game in hand.
Joe Shaughnessy headed in a late equaliser as Dundee drew 2-2 with Kilmarnock after a dramatic finale at Rugby Park.
Luke McCowan had given the visitors a first-half lead and they looked to be heading towards a victory until Joe Wright's header brought Killie level with five minutes remaining. Substitute Rory McKenzie then gave the hosts the lead in the third minute of stoppage time, lashing home after Gary Mackay-Steven's cross fell invitingly for him inside the box.
But two minutes later, Owen Beck's corner landed on the head of Shaughnessy who scored a dramatic leveller to ensure the match ended in a draw.
Theo Bair discovered his form as Motherwell beat Livingston 3-1 to record a first win in 16 Premiership matches. The forward scored two and set up another for Blair Spital as Motherwell doubled their first-half goal tally for the league season inside 35 minutes. Scott Pittman had made it 2-1 but Bair's fourth goal of the season put the game beyond the reach of the bottom side.
Livi continued battling but could not get a lifeline as they drifted seven points behind their rivals at the foot of the table.
The scale of Celtic relief and celebration was therefore understandable. They scraped over the line against a 10-man side who did not play badly but outcome counts for everything. A successful title defence is back within Celtic’s own grasp.
From Clement, there was the bemoaning of “circumstances” he felt went against his team. The Belgian believed several Celtic players were fortunate to escape second yellow cards. Of more concern to the Rangers manager was the non-award of a penalty kick to his team, late in the first half with Celtic already a goal to the good.
“It was a clear handball,” he said of the incident involving the Celtic right-back, Alistair Johnston. “It was a mistake. I also make mistakes but that was an expensive one.”
Clement said he did not believe an explanation via officialdom that an offside in the lead-up to the moment, which did indeed appear a clear handball, meant a penalty could not be given. “There was no signal for offside,” said Clement of what transpired after a VAR check. The whiff of cordite is never far from this occasion.
Celtic will have no interest in the complaint. Paulo Bernardo lashed the hosts in front after Rangers failed to deal with a pretty straightforward Luis Palma corner. Rangers’ opening period was undermined by failure to display a ruthless touch. Cyriel Dessers, for example, found himself clean through on goal but thought it wise to allow himself to be shut down rather than have a shot. Joe Hart saved smartly from the young attacker Ross McCausland.
Celtic started the second half in a manner that suggested they knew a one-goal lead was perilous. Matt O’Riley fed Kyogo Furuhashi, who curled home a seventh goal against Rangers in this calendar year. Clement described the finish as “world-class.”
Matters turned decidedly worse for Rangers as Balogun wrestled the marauding Daizen Maeda to the ground. The defender was dismissed, 19 minutes from time. Rather than ensure a safe Celtic passage to full-time, Celtic looked uneasy about playing at 11 versus 10.
James Tavernier, the Rangers captain, curled a sublime free-kick past Hart with eight minutes of subsequent stoppage time reducing the fingernails in a stadium that featured home fans only. Rangers did not have clearcut opportunity to snatch a draw but Celtic should still have been far more comfortable than was the case.
Rodgers nodded towards a bigger picture. “Over my two spells here I have worked against five Rangers managers and every time ‘Rangers were coming,’” he said. “Every time, at some point. If I listened to media and press then we would be in constant crisis mode and constant fear of Rangers. But it’s the fifth manager now. So my focus is only on Celtic and concentrating very much on here and a lot of the stuff that maybe does go around thankfully I ignore it.
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“We showed with a team still missing key players, and players who will make the difference for us, that we are competitive and we can play football and we can compete. And that is what we will continually do.
“We had to be super brave. We had to take on the challenge and that is what I have always done when I’ve been here.”
The ominous part for Rangers? Celtic are highly likely to improve.
