Celtic 2-0 Rangers

[Mac 10 †]

Celtic 2-0 Rangers
 
Celtic eased holders Rangers out of the CIS Insurance Cup to heap more pressure on beleaguered Ibrox boss Alex McLeish.

The home side were already in control when Shaun Maloney sidestepped his marker and drove the ball from 30 yards past a badly-positioned Stefan Klos.

Rangers defender Sotirios Kyrgiakos was sent off after sarcastically clapping the officials following a foul.

And Klos diverted a Shunsuke Nakamura cross into his own net under pressure from Bobo Balde to end Rangers' hopes.

It was sweet revenge for Celtic after their 3-1 defeat by their city rivals in the league in August.

Celtic boss Gordon Strachan was under pressure at that time, but it was McLeish who went into the quarter-final with his job on the line after just two wins in Rangers' last 10 matches. 

The Rangers manager was also forced to introduce Hamed Namouchi and Ian Murray into midfield with Peter Lovenkrands only fit enough to be on the bench after a virus and Brahim Hemdani injured.

Unchanged Celtic not surprisingly started the more confident side.

And Aiden McGeadie, who continued in midfield despite the return from suspension of Alan Thompson, tested Klos with a drive and just failed to find John Hartson with a cross to the back post.

Celtic broke the deadlock with a superb strike by Maloney from 30 yards that Klos, who looked slightly out of position, got a hand to but could not prevent bulging the net.

Rangers were failing to penetrate the Celtic defence and resorted to long-range efforts.

Namouchi's low drive flew a couple of yards wide, Barry Ferguson fired straight at Artur Boruc and Fernando Ricksen curled an effort a few feet over the bar.

McLeish replaced Oliver Bernard with Lovenkrands at the break in a more offensive formation.

And McGeady almost presented Rangers with an equaliser with a slack backpass that Balde failed to control.

But Dado Prso sliced the ball wide from 16 yards under pressure from the big defender.

Rangers chances virtually ended when Kyrgiakos was shown a second yellow card for dissent after he was ruled to have fouled Maloney.

Stilian Petrov had a goal chopped off for offside, Hartson missed badly from six yards and Nakamura forced a fine save from Klos.

But the German goalkeeper completed a nightmare night with an own goal before Rangers came close to a consolation when Prso headed on to the crossbar.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Celtic: Boruc, Telfer, Balde, McManus, Camara, Nakamura, Lennon, Petrov, McGeady (Varga 77), Hartson, Maloney.
Subs Not Used: Marshall, Thompson, Virgo, Pearson.

Booked: Hartson, Balde.

Goals: Maloney 26, Klos 82 og.

Rangers: Klos, Hutton, Rodriguez (Pierre-Fanfan 79), Kyrgiakos, Bernard (Lovenkrands 45), Namouchi, Ferguson, Ricksen, Murray, Prso, Thompson (Jeffers 56).
Subs Not Used: Alex Rae, Waterreus.

Sent Off: Kyrgiakos (66).

Booked: Kyrgiakos, Hutton, Jeffers, Pierre-Fanfan.

Att: 57,183

Ref: K Clark

[BJV]

[eS El Duque]

hullo hullo

[TheDeli]

Overall a poor game, an organised performance from Celitc and a very poor performance from Rangers not the greatest time i've spent at Parkhead lol.

IMO Kyrgiiakos shouldn't have been sent off due to first booking not being a foul, (though he should have known better than to do what he did for his 2nd yellow) however don't think that if he had stayed on the park we would have got that elusive goal that we were chasing as were offered very little going forward

Looks like Celtics cup now  , can't see any of the other 3 teams (Motherwell, Livingston, Dunfermline) getting any shock result

[Mac 10 †]

yeh it was a poor game, i think most celtic fans (and prolly most rangers fans) wanted the win precisely for that reason - to win

the C.I.S. doesnt mean much, was nice to win though the real game is next saturday.

[TheDeli]

yeh it was a poor game, i think most celtic fans (and prolly most rangers fans) wanted the win precisely for that reason - to win

the C.I.S. doesnt mean much, was nice to win though the real game is next saturday.

Very true, it may have only been the CIS cup but because of who was playing each set of fans wanted the victory

Hopefully next saturday we'll have in a new manager & the team shall show more fight than last night, IMO it'll be a different game & hopefully the result shall be a good one for me 

[TNB]

Rangers have not performed for weeks on end.  I think the manager should have gone after the Dundee Utd game to be honest.  Hopefully, someone else will be in charge for the next game and we can grind out results until January, then reshape our team.