Evening Standard
·11 May 2024
Evening Standard
·11 May 2024
Celtic took a huge step towards another Scottish Premiership title by seeing off Rangers in a thrilling Old Firm derby on Saturday. Matt O’Riley opened the scoring for the hosts at Parkhead with a brilliant low first-half strike, before the lead was quickly doubled after an unfortunate own goal from John Lundstram.
Cyriel Dessers’ close-range header mere seconds later halved the deficit for Rangers, who lost Lundstram on the stroke of half-time when his yellow card for a wild sliding challenge on Alistair Johnston was upgraded to red by referee Willie Collum after the VAR had sent him to consult the pitchside monitor.
Rangers managed to hold out for the entire second half despite their numerical disadvantage, playing their part in a grandstand finish after Jack Butland had saved O’Riley’s poor penalty and Celtic missed a host of chances as well as Daizen Maeda seeing two goals ruled out for offside. However, Celtic ultimately still prevailed to go six points clear of their fierce rivals with only two games left to play this season.