Quick Review
A controversial ending to a game which Celtic dominated, a dubious penalty, poor refereeing and Mo Johnston sent off - it all felt like a stitch-up job

Trivia

• Tommy Burns had been seriously injured in the previous game against Dynamo Kiev at Celtic Park. He had been taking the left back's role and with him missing Murdo MacLeod had to fit into the left back position.
• Peter Grant was used as a right back at the start of the game - a position he became used in more and more as the season progressed.
• To an extent this was seen as a test of how big-spending Rangers would deal with a Celtic team that were the Champions and League leaders but which had seen hardly any investment since the end of the previous season. Celtic had lost the first Old Firm game at Ibrox in August by a single goal.
  

Teams

Celtic:
Bonner, Grant, MacLeod, Aitken, Whyte, McGhee (Archdeacon, 46), McClair, McStay, Johnston, Shepherd, McInally;
NU Sub: W McStay
Scorer: McClair (70)

Rangers:
Woods, Nicholl, Munro, Fraser (McFarlane), Dawson, Butcher, Ferguson, McMinn, McCoist (Fleck), Durrant, Cooper
Scorers: Durrant (62), Cooper (pen, 84)

Referee: Syme (

Attendance: 74,219

Articles

• Match Report

Celtic started confidently and played well together as a unit at the beginning. From the middle of the first half they allowed Rangers to get back into the game and Bonner had to produce a couple of decent saves to keep the scores level at 0-0. In the 40th minute Aitken picked the ball up and ran with it upfield. His pass released Mo Johnston who turned and beat Butcher before releasing a shot across goal which hit the far post. McGhee picked up the rebound but could only fire his shot against a defender.
At the start of the second half Archdeacon came on in place of McGhee and proceeded to add more to the attack as well as fresh legs (McGhee had only made 4 sub appearances that season before this game). Celtic pushed but couldn't find the goal. Then on 62 minutes Rangers won a free kick on the right hand side after a poor challenge from Whyte. Fraser took the free kick and hit it over a sleeping Celtic defense to Durrant who slotted the ball past Bonner with his left foot. 0-1
Celtic then played their best football of the game. McClair hit the crossbar then on 70minutes Mo Johnston picked out McClair with an accurate pass and he hit a cracking shot from the edge of the box that flashed by Woods. 1-1.
The play went backwards and forwards and it looked to be heading to extra time with Celtic getting the better of Rangers. However on 84 minutes Rangers won another free kick from the right and when the ball was played in Aitken and Butcher both went up for it, missing it and landing in a heap. To everyone's surprise referee Syme adjudged Aitken to have impeded Butcher and gave a penalty. Grant and Bonner were booked for protesting in the ensuing melee.
Cooper stepped up and put the ball away. 1-2
With 6 minutes remaining there was still time for more controversy. Mo Johnston was given a second yellow for an off-the-ball incident (which appears to be impossible to track down). Tony Shepherd tried to appeal to Syme on Johnston's behalf at which point Syme was hit by a coin from the crowd. Syme thought Shepherd had hit him and sent him off. The llinesman intervened and Syme had to recall Shepherd.
At the final whistle all Celtic - team, management and fans - felt they'd been robbed.
Seven Celts were yellow carded and Johnston took the early bath for the second yellow, which was justified and due to Mo's losing the plot somewhat in the face of intense provocation. He crossed himself in front of the Rangers fans as he left the pitch.

• Manager Interview

It's out there somewhere and should be choice reading.

• Subsequent Actions.

The following week Celtic View published a front page piece praising the fans for not getting involved. Though the tenor of the article attempted to be flat and straight-faced it was fairly clear that the powers at Celtic clearly felt that the team had been robbed by the referee. Even so, Celtic took disciplinary action against Mo Johnston fining him for getting himself sent off.

In late November Celtic were called before an SFA Disciplinary Panel - the first time since the 1980 Scottish Cup Final - to account for there actions in the game - basically for getting 7 yellows and 1 red and losing the head at the end of the game. The club were fined £5000 for the conduct of the players and David Hay was fined £350 for comments he made about the referee after the game. This fine though was increased to £600 because of comments he made after another League game concerning the referee and he was warned as to his future conduct. This was exceptional and added insult to injury.

Pictures

• Match Pictures
• Fans