If ever a stadium can be rocked by silence, this was the moment. With no visiting fans allowed at any of this season’s Glasgow derbies, Ryan Naderi’s winning goal was met with nothing but the banging of fists of the clear plastic of the Rangers bench, and the shouting of the broadcast commentators. A screaming void of apathy and atrophy, the sound of a beckoning abyss, of a title race blowing open and a team slowly breaking apart.
That Rangers were unable to celebrate this triumph with their fans in the stadium was, of course, a source of lament, as well as a measure of just how ugly this fixture has become over the years.
It has become a day that is no longer relished but dreaded, a failure not just of the two fanbases themselves but the authorities who have allowed the ugliness to fester, who have talked a tough game on sectarianism but done little in practice to combat it at source.
But nothing could spoil the mood of Derek McInnes’s team, humming after a tough start to the season and now able to toast a second victory over their rivals in the space of a week. For Celtic, sitting on three straight defeats, the silence will be filled with plenty of noises and voices over the coming international break: awkward questions and painful decisions that last season’s dramatic double may have forestalled but which can no longer be avoided.
The drop in standards over the opening weeks of this season has been alarming, and at 74 years of age Martin O’Neill is wise enough and self-aware enough to know that he may be as much part of the problem as part of the solution. For him, the next few weeks will be a time of “self-reflection” on his role and his future, on whether he truly has the energy in him for one last fight.
“It’s a matter of whether I can help the team, and I’ll have a look at that this week,” he said. “Every time things don’t go so well, age plays a part, and you know what, they may be right. I’m 110 in two years’ time. That may be time to wrap it up. But I’ll see how it goes.
“Let me generalise a little bit. I got an opportunity to come back last October which I never thought would happen in my life. Winning the league, the game against Hearts, was one of the great moments of my managerial time. But even then, I was still thinking about whether you can still have the energy, the desire. There’s nothing great about getting old, I’ll tell you that.”
What is true of O’Neill may also be true of a few of his players. Is Callum McGregor, club legend but now 33 years of age and increasingly off the pace, still fit for purpose? Does Liam Scales need replacing? Does Kieran Tierney still have the legs? What exactly is James Forrest still doing about the place? And in the meantime, would you remotely trust the Celtic board – still essentially hollow of footballing expertise – to oversee the required transition?
Not on this evidence. The summer signings – Kasper Høgh, Mika Baur, Camilo Durán – largely disappeared from view.
Wouter Vrancken was left bewildered by the “strange” video assistant referee decision to rule out an early Hearts goal in their 1-1 draw at bottom-placed Kilmarnock. The Jambos thought they had gone ahead in the 11th minute when Laurent Mendy’s effort – which appeared to be going wide – was diverted into the net by the Killie defender Cathal McCarthy. But the VAR, Matthew MacDermid, advised Duncan Nicolson to rule it out as the ball had accidentally struck Mendy’s hand. Killie went ahead a few minutes later through a Jamie McCart own goal before Stephen Kingsley equalised in the 86th minute (pictured).
But Vrancken cited similarities with the recent incident involving Manchester United’s Harry Maguire against Ipswich and felt Mendy’s inadvertent handball should have been rendered irrelevant by McCarthy heading the ball into the net. “For me, when it’s such a clear situation, it’s strange that the VAR comes in between and rules wrong,” said the Belgian. “We had a meeting last week about the laws of the game and the refs did their explanation but when you don’t see them applied in the game, then I’m thinking this is strange."
Martin Boyle ended Hibernian’s losing streak at home after they fought back to claim a point in a 1-1 draw against Aberdeen. The Dons went ahead in the 17th minute with a composed finish from former Hibs striker Kevin Nisbet. Managerless Hibs – with John Potter in interim charge after David Gray’s midweek sacking – looked bereft of confidence for long spells. However, the Leith side – who had lost six successive games at Easter Road – earned a share of the spoils when Boyle levelled from the penalty spot in the 62nd minute after Jack Milne dragged Jason Kerr to the ground.
Steven Pressley praised Joe Westley for the bravery he showed by playing in Dundee's 2-1 home win over Motherwell. The former Burnley striker fractured his cheekbone against Hearts a fortnight ago but declared himself available after deciding against having surgery. Instead, he played wearing a protective mask and nett Dundee’s opening goal from the penalty spot before Bradley Fink doubled their advantage. Alex Lowry pulled one back for the visitors just before the break but the home side held on.
Pressley said: “Joe showed great courage. But he gave a wonderful performance, without any trepidation. Joe was fearless in everything he did and to score a goal is really important for him because he lives off them."
Jim Goodwin hailed his side’s performance as the perfect tonic as Dundee United defeated St Mirren 3-0 in a one-sided contest in Paisley, with first-half goals from Jesse Randall, Lyall Cameron and Kevin Ciubotaru. It was Goodwin’s first appearance in the dugout since a recent health scare and the United manager said: “On a personal note, it was great to be back. Certainly the best medicine that I could have hoped for was that type of result and performance."
A stunning set-piece strike from Enes Alic in the sixth minute of stoppage time secured a dramatic 1-1 draw for 10-man St Johnstone against Falkirk. Falkirk took advantage of Cheick Diabaté’s 54th-minute red card to seize the lead through Ethan Ross on the hour. But Alic found the top corner from 25 yards to move Simo Valakari’s side up to sixth place. Press Association
There was fury here but precious little focus, plenty of passion but no real patterns of play, no order to the chaos, no real idea of how to keep the ball or fashion a chance. Rangers dominated the central areas, where Dan Neil and Nicolas Raskin are already forging a formidable partnership and James Penrice merrily stomped all over the place.
O’Neill gambled on a back five, on Luke McCowan in a sort of withdrawn winger role, discarded both at half-time, rolled through his substitutions, but the plan never really emerged from the fog. Celtic are basically like the tangled ball of printer cables and headphone wires in the bottom drawer, where you’re never quite sure whether you’re unpicking the knots or making them tighter.
Naderi’s goal, bundled in from close range after Kim Min-su’s long-range effort was parried helpfully into his path by Viljami Sinisalo, was simply the most consequential emblem of Rangers’ superiority here. Emmanuel Fernandez got a rough ride early on, Tierney clipped the bar from distance and Ivor Pandur made a fine save from Colby Donovan early in the second half. That was basically it, as far as explicit threat went. Donovan’s header was the only Celtic shot on target.
“For a young team, it’s brilliant that they can take the good from this,” said McInnes. “Coming to places like this, it won’t get much more difficult. It’s only three points, but in the context of the season it was important for lots of reasons.” He knows, of course, that Rangers are not the finished article. But right now there is a power vacuum at the top of Scottish football and his improving side may as well be the one to fill it.
