SPL - Miller double sees Rangers beat Celtic

Eurosport - Sun, 04 Oct 12:05:00 2009

Two goals from Kenny Miller gave Rangers a 2-1 win over Celtic in the first Old Firm game of the season.

2009-2010 Rangers-Celtic Kenny Miller celebrates - 0

Miller struck twice in the first half against his former club, capitalising on some poor defending.

Aiden McGeady reduced the arrears from the penalty spot but Tony Mowbray's derby debut as Celtic boss ended in defeat.

The Bhoys remain top of the SPL, but have seen their lead cut to a point ahead of their Glasgow rivals.

Rangers were without Madjid Bougherra, who has 'flu, forcing a defensive reshuffle that gave Andrew Little his debut at right-back. It did not last long, as an injury forced the luckless youngster off after 14 minutes.

Mowbray sprung a selection surprise by handing new signing Zheng Zhi a debut, but the Chinese international looked sharp and unawed by the occasion. It was Celtic's more established players who let them down - notably the defensive trio of goalkeeper Artur Boruc and centre-backs Glenn Loovens and Stephen McManus.

The latter pair failed to reaft when Kris Boyd sent Miller - hardly blessed with electric pace - through in the eighth minute, and Boruc's positioning left much to be desired as Miller rolled the ball into the left side of the net.

Loovens produced even worse for the second after a quarter of an hour. Rangers keeper Allan McGregor booted away a regulation long clearance, but Loovens inexplicably let the ball bounce before allowing Miller to muscle him out of the way.

Boruc got a touch to the left-foot shot, but could not stop it from nestling in the right corner of the Celtic net. Mowbray must have questioned the wisdom of leaving Gary Caldwell out of his starting XI.

But Celtic did not have a monopoly on bad defending and they should have had a penalty when David Weir tripped Shaun Maloney, but referee Craig Thomson saw no foul. Maloney was then booked for a subsequent dive.

Referee Thomson had no choice but to point from the spot on 25 minutes when Sasa Papac stretched out a leg and brought Zheng down, however. McGregor guessed correctly, diving to his right, but McGeady's penalty squeezed into the net.

The second half produced five bookings but no goals. Scott McDonald volleyed a deflected Zheng cross straight at McGregor, then brought a save from the keeper with another acrobatic attempt.

Maloney sidefooted wide when presented with a superb chance by Mark Wilson's low cross, but generally Rangers dealt well with Celtic's crosses with Weir and Papac looking increasingly assured.

Miller might have completed his hat-trick but shot wide from the edge of the box, and Nacho Novo came close to lobbing Boruc late on as Rangers looked the likelier scorers in the latter stages.

Alex CHICK / Eurosport

Comment 124 - 143 of 143

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  1. According to the Referee Celtic should have had another­ penalty.
    Good on him for admitting that
    NO GOOD TO­ CELTIC NOW THOUGH IS IT
    On such things Silverware is­ decided.

    From rblackhurst2004, on Tue 6 Oct 11:44AM

  2. 2-1 fail fail AGAIN hahahahahaha

    From css, on Tue 6 Oct 7:00AM

  3. tour usual intelligent retort then jimtodd, retort­ means answer back by the way,incase you're­ wondering, ya feckin nae brain celled half-wit.

    From beetroot1972, on Mon 5 Oct 8:56PM
  4. Comment hidden due to its low rating. Show

    #139 it seems to me your forum name beetroot is a­ f*cking VEGETABLE SAME AS ALL YOU SC*M ORANGE MHANKY­ BAS,but life goes on.
    in the real world we all know­ rankers rotten are the shyte fitba team with NO MONEY­ & NO F*CKING TALENT AND EUROPE WOULD LOVE A H*N­ FREE ZONE ,so bawhied beetroot lol stick that in your­ pipe and smoke it aS SURE YOUR D*CK IS TO SMALL FOR­ YOUR SLAPPER OF A QUEEN LOL

    HAIL HAIL

    From jim.todd79, on Mon 5 Oct 5:35PM

  5. very quiet on the timmy front today, i wonder why? whit­ was aw that sh ite they were spouting yesterday aboot­ they were gonny dae this, gonny dae that blah blah­ blah? fact is a depleted rangers team won comfortably­ because celtic were so poor and by the way, the first­ maloney penalty claim was a stonewaller but so whit?­ have they no been gettin the majority of decisions­ going for them the last 2 years, they no doubt will­ hide behind their 'the ref wis a mason' garbage­ instead of facing facts aboot how poor they really are.­ rangers are hardly a great side the noo, but yesterday­ was comfortable. a wee consistent run of form and that­ league should be there for the taking, bring it on.­ WATP.

    From beetroot1972, on Mon 5 Oct 3:48PM

  6. I t is nice to hear septic squirming.

    From Paul, on Mon 5 Oct 2:33PM
  7. Comment hidden due to its low rating. Show

    lets hope the real jim todd dose'nt stay in­ maryhill ,he will get bad name same as the bluenose­ sc*m of scotland
    NO MONEY & NO F*CKING TALENT

    HAIL­ HAIL

    From jim.todd79, on Mon 5 Oct 1:54PM

  8. C'mon the true blue Scottish champions. 2-1­ HAHAHAHAHAHA

    From Charles, on Mon 5 Oct 1:45PM

  9. just love it fail fail the hapless.

    From bluenoseburger, on Mon 5 Oct 1:22PM

  10. Walter has certainly given all you 'gers fans­ decent bragging rights for a wee while, and by all­ means enjoy it, but while we are all castigating­ Celtic, especially the defence, it will be well to­ realise that with Novo on in the first quarter of the­ game, and Lafferty on before the second half, Rangers­ with effectively 3 strikers on the park, could not­ score a goal, apart from the two gifts presented to you­ by Loovens. If I were a 'gers fan, I would be­ concerned that even against the duds in Celtic's­ central defence, the great and glorious Rangers strike­ force could not fashion a goal for themselves. Celtic,­ the way they played yesterday, were there for a severe­ skelping, and you lot, even with 2 of a start, could­ not do it.

    From lysdexic, on Mon 5 Oct 12:50PM

  11. tim.todd is a convicted paeodophile and a rapist hes­ well known in the Maryhill area!! And I liked­ stevejones comment "typical scumgers, 11th man in­ the referee, fu%king­ filthy dirty minky animals"­ hahaha. 11th man???? Im pretty sure rangers already had­ 11 men so wouldn't the ref make it 12?? hahaha­ ceptic @#$%

    From Gavin C, on Mon 5 Oct 12:44PM

  12. oor 3 centre backs are @#$%,they get foon oot­ everytime

    caldwell has been @#$% ever since he got­ sent off against norway,sayin that he played ok until­ he got sent off,he was winning a few headers in that­ game but hes been too shaky even colin samuel ran him­ ragged a few times

    loovens tries to play ppl offside­ all the time wen they are not,lucky rangers never­ pounced on that but it will happen one day

    mcmanus all­ over the palce ,hes a ball winner sumtimes n thats­ it

    the goals will come but the defence has to stand up­ now,no messin about

    c'mon the hoops

    From Kevin, on Mon 5 Oct 11:39AM

  13. remind me of the score again........oh yes 2-1 rangers­ win 3 points to the `gers.....told you he was @#$% when­ he left us the traitor wait till you sack the little­ dwarf.......our loss is celtics pain ha ha fail fail up­ the albion

    From KENNETH K, on Mon 5 Oct 11:37AM

  14. what have you done celtic you got rid of one idiot and­ replaced him with another i told you months ago mowbray­ was shi te and he has proved me right out of europe at­ the first hurdle all you have left is a useless league­ oh and the draw of playin rangers 4 times a season big­ deal he even got that wrong ha ha 2-1 loss oh fail fail­ get him out now and get a proper man in not a fu*in­ traitor glad he went coz he will be sacked halfway thru­ the season............boing boing baggies

    From KENNETH K, on Mon 5 Oct 11:32AM
  15. Comment hidden due to its low rating. Show

    no full backs played ,new player BIG Z first game,they­ still played the sc*m of the park apart from 2 f*cking­ errors other than that holy goalie did f*ck all and 4­ stone wallers not given, so TOO ALL YOU ORANGE F*CKING­ SC*M ORC CHIMPS GET BACK IN THE CLOSET YA PEADO INCEST­ SHTYE BAWHEIDS.

    RANKERS F*CKING ROTTEN NO F*CKING­ MONEY & NO F*CKING TALENT

    HAIL HAIL

    From jim.todd79, on Mon 5 Oct 11:16AM

  16. Tm should'nt have loaned out o'dea,is he any­ worse than the 3 centre backs weve got just now

    oor ­ centre backs are training against mcdonald,killen and­ sammy,bring back a sutton or a hartson to fling these­ bums around in training cause thats wot they need

    pens­ or not sumtimes u get them sumtimes u dont cant deflect­ that away from school boy defending

    BOARD MUST SPEND­ IN JAN cant be naive like last jan window

    get it­ sorted tm u were a centre hawf urself

    c'mon the­ hoops

    From Kevin, on Mon 5 Oct 11:04AM

  17. same aggressive p1sh coming from Selleck's fans on­ here - "no money, no feckn talent etc etc" -­ here's the FACTS. The non talented Rangers side was­ weakened further by illness and injuries and Selleck­ still couldnt beat them. Referee this and referee that,­ blah blah - you lost and every single time it counts­ Mowbray and his duds are found wanting. Perhaps your­ anger would be better spent on your own team! W A T P

    From ANDREW M, on Mon 5 Oct 10:18AM
  18. Comment hidden due to its low rating. Show

    STrangers formation for the next OF GAME AT PARADISE

    6­ 3 1

    GOOD NEWS WATTIE IS GOING TO HAVE A REAL GO AT­ US NEXT TIME

    From Graeme, on Mon 5 Oct 10:01AM
  19. Comment hidden due to its low rating. Show

    THE MANAGER OF THE YEAR AWARD SHOULD BE GIVEN TO SMITH­ RIGHT NOW HE MUST BE THE ONLY BOSS IN WORLD FOOTBALL TO­ BE
    SOOOO ANTI FOOTBALL
    YET STILL HAS 35000­ MONKEY'S SINGING HIS PRAISES
    I

    From Graeme, on Mon 5 Oct 9:55AM

  20. Jones & Todd are you the same person you seem to­ spout the same bile all the time.

    You lot got done by­ a weak gers team so get over it. I hope you confess all­ this bile on a Sunday must be in the box for a­ while.
    New name for Maloney Should call him Jigsaw....­ as he falls to pieces in the box.

    From Grim Reaper, on Mon 5 Oct 9:44AM
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