Celtic have extended their lead at the top of the Scottish Premier League to ten points after a vital 2-1 win in the Old Firm derby with Rangers at Parkhead. Joos Valgaeren and Henrik Larsson put the champions on their way to victory before substitute Peter Lovenkrands gave the visitors a lifeline when he pulled one back with 15 minutes to go. However, it was a case of too little too late and Martin O'Neill's team held on for victory.
To make matters worse for Rangers boss Dick Advocaat, he was involved in an astonishing bust-up with £6.5million signing Michael Ball, who took umbrage at being substituted by the Dutchman. The pair were involved in a heated exchange as Ball, playing in his first ever Old Firm derby, came off the pitch when replaced by the eventual goalscorer Lovenkrands.
It had all started so brightly for Rangers, who seemed to settle more quickly than the champions and they enjoyed the greater possession in the opening stages. Just three minutes into the match, Celtic keeper Robert Douglas was called into action to prevent Rangers from taking an early lead. A cross from Claudio Reyna was flicked on by Ronald de Boer to Maurice Ross who then hit a fierce right-foot volley that Douglas could only push wide.
Rangers continued to pressurise their opponents and looked more dangerous up front as they went close to breaking the deadlock on several occasions in the first-half. On 20 minutes they came within inches of taking the lead after Shota Arveladze found Tore Andre Flo and his powerful left-foot shot beat the outstretched hand of Douglas but rebounded off the upright. In the 32nd minute, Douglas once again came to Celtic's rescue when de Boer made a brilliant run into the box to collect from Arthur Numan but his effort was saved by the Celtic keeper.
Celtic started the second-half much better than they did the first and they almost made the breakthrough in the 50th minute when a corner from Lubo Moravcik found Bobo Balde on the edge of the six-yard box but his flick went just wide of the post. Larsson also went close before O'Neill decided to make a change and introduced striker Shaun Maloney for Moravcik and the youngster caused problems for Rangers straight away.
In the 58th minute, Celtic's fans finally had something to cheer about as the home side took the lead. Balde headed Stilian Petrov's cross across the face of the goal and Joos Valgaeren slid in to fire past Stefan Klos in goal. Ten minutes later, Celtic doubled their lead when Larsson was fouled in the area by Bert Konterman and the Swede stepped up to calmly fire past Klos into the back of the net.
In the 74th minute, Advocaat replaced Ball with Lovenkrands and was left seething after his summer signing engaged in a heated exchange with his manager on the sideline before storming off in a huff. Seconds later, the referee also lost his composure, showing Konterman a yellow card and then a red before being informed by Lorenzo Amoruso that it was Konterman's first booking of the match. After just two minutes on the field, Lovenkrands grabbed a lifeline for Rangers. De Boer passed to Caniggia who squared the ball across the face of the goal for Lovenkrands to nudge over the line but it was the away fans had to celebrate on yet another disappointing afternoon at Parkhead.
Filed by Amanda Fennelly
