SPL - Rangers go top as Celtic held

Eurosport - Sat, 17 Oct 17:05:00 2009

Rangers went top of the SPL after a hard-fought 2-1 win over St Johnstone at McDiarmid Park was followed by Celtic's 0-0 draw with Motherwell.

FOOTBALL - Sasa Papac, Rangers - 0

Collin Samuel was a potent threat throughout for St Johnstone and gave his side a 17th-minute lead with a composed finish.

Walter Smith's side were buoyed by the return of striker Kris Boyd who saw off a small fracture to his eye socket to steal a starting berth, and he drew his side level with a clinical finish in the 40th minute.

Sasa Papac then pounced in the 83rd minute to steal all three points for his side after the ball broke loose to him on the edge of the St Johnstone box as the visitors piled forward in search of the win.

Rangers lacked creativity in the final third during a fragmented first half, but Boyd provided the cutting edge required to regain parity.

St Johnstone went agonisingly close to opening the scoring in just the fourth minute as Samuel showed good invention down the left to get to the byline before dinking a cross to the back post where Martin Hardie's header came cruelly back off the far post.

But the hosts got themselves in front as Chris Millar slipped the ball through to Samuel, who coolly slotted the ball under Allan McGregor in the Rangers goal for an opening goal which they their open play thoroughly merited.

As Rangers responded, a marauding run from Steven Whittaker was eventually ended abruptly after a cynical push from Danny Grainger, but Jerome Rothen squandered a dangerous free kick, not for the last time in the first half.

Papac was full of purpose in bringing the ball out from defence and it was one such foraging run through the St Johnstone half which led to his side's equaliser five minutes before half-time.

Papac fed Kyle Lafferty, whose slick through ball was inadvertently deflected by Steven Anderson into Boyd's path, and the striker was unerring as he lifted the ball precisely past Alan Main to draw his side level.

Lafferty almost capped the visitor's recovery two minutes later as the combative Jody Morris was caught napping in possession by Kevin Thomson, who laid the ball into the path of the Northern Irishman, but his shot drifted narrowly wide of Main's far post.

Boyd also had a vociferous appeal for a penalty turned down by referee William Collum as his cross-shot appeared to strike David Mackay on the arm, but the defender knew very little as the incident quickly petered out.

Samuel was again the dangerman for St Johnstone as he whipped in a devilish delivery from outwide which found Murray Davidson unmarked in the box, but the midfielder failed to hit the target with his free header in the 55th minute.

Davidson squandered another glorious opportunity later in the second half as he inexplicably chose to dummy a low cross from Samuel which picked him out in space inside the box, with nobody able to fathom what was going through his mind in opting to not shoot from close range.

Lafferty was again at the forefront for Rangers as he skipped inside the box from the right but his lay-off to Boyd evaded his strike partner as the chance went begging in the 69th minute.

Smith was uncompromising in his gung-ho approach as he introduced forwards Nacho Novo and Kenny Miller in the second half to bolster his front line, and he was rewarded for his positivity.

Rangers continued to pile forward in their droves, but it was after an attack looked to have broken down that Papac picked his spot with an exquisite finish as he loitered ominously on the edge of the St Johnstone box as the ball was frantically cleared out to him.

The visitors were hemmed in deep inside their half as they looked to protect their slender lead, and substitute Filipe Morais missed his volley at the back post in what was the only clear-cut chance to fall St Johnstone's way.

- - -

At Parkhead, Scott McDonald and Aiden McGeady both missed gilt-edged chances late on for the Bhoys as they pressed for a last-gasp win, but the dogged visitors escaped with a point.

The late pressure aside, Motherwell matched their illustrious opponents for much of the encounter, and despite lining up in a defensive 4-5-1 formation, they weren't afraid to attack when the opportunity presented itself.

The visitors won five corners to Celtic's four in the first-half, and could easily have taken the lead on 18 minutes, when Chris Humphrey's drive diverted off lone striker Lukas Jutkiewicz on its way to goal, forcing Artur Boruc into a smart save.

Celtic should have taken the lead two minutes before the interval when Georgios Samaras teed up Niall McGinn with a teasing cross. But the Ulsterman headed well wide from eight yards out.

The frustration deepened as time ticked away, with Scott McDonald firing wide after his own superb work had created an opening midway through the second half.

Motherwell were pinned back in their half in the final minutes, but Celtic failed time and again to put in a decent delivery from a flurry of late corners. And when they did find the final ball, their strikers failed to find the target - most conspicuously when McDonald and McGeady both headed wide in injury time.

The result means Celtic have now gone three games without a win, and their defeat to Rangers in their last league outing before the international break combined with their Old Firm rivals' victory means Celtic now sit two points behind the leaders.

Dan Quarrell & Ben Phillips / Eurosport

Comment 24 - 43 of 43

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  1. 44 and 45 Both sides of the same coin here. the whole­ set up of scottish footbal needs to re completely­ reassessed. a nation of 6 million with 40 professional­ footbal teams with 3 professional leagues? this is a­ complete and utter joke. scottish football is run and­ organised by self serving, sychophantic, backward­ looking dinosaurs who bring nothing to the game. when­ gordon smith became numero uno honcho i really thought­ he would be a breath of fresh air, but no, just another­ sychophant. playing the same club four times in the­ league and the quite possibly another twice in cup­ games is a nonsense.
    a top league of 20 teams playing­ each other twice and played in the spring, summer and­ autumn, never mind all this winter garbage. scotland­ is not financially able to sustain this number of­ teams, simple. look at our football from the bottom­ up. 20 professional teams with decent training and­ stadia with the other clubs acting as feeder clubs for­ the top 20. look at the real world; if a company cant­ compete it goes bust. why should football clubs be any­ different? our football as it is, is simply­ unsustainable and something has to change.
    as a celtic­ fan i would love to see them compete with the best week­ in week out. rangers fans probably feel the same way­ and that means moving to england. as a SCOTTISH ­ football fan i understand that scottish football would­ soon die without the old firm, so, what do we do?? ­ restructure, simple. east fife, albion rovers,­ stenhousemuir and the other like teams contribute­ nothing to the overall standard of our game.
    afterall,­ if the dinosaurs can become extinct so can albion­ rovers.

    From frankiethebear2002, on Mon 19 Oct 6:58PM

  2. # 44 reeny yip got to agree with you there i was at­ celtic game on sat celtic could still be playing just­ now and wouldn,t have scored yet mogga got some major­ problems from defence, mid , forwards reid and co will­ need to dig deep in jan transfer but i wouldn't­ hold my breath on that happning, i watched reid for a­ few minutes on sat and there he whistling away as if­ nothing wrong at the moment message to you REID have a­ good look around the stadium look at the empty seats,­ that tells you a story team and managament not good­ enough IMO

    From the azzurri, on Mon 19 Oct 2:59PM

  3. from a footballing point of view not bigotry both­ rangers and celtic are poor.i watch the game on­ saturday against st johnstone and to be honest my local­ junior team could have played better. boyd was lazy,­ lafferty was laffable, rotten was just that we lacked­ pace, vision, and had a hump it and see­ attitude.mcculloch is not a centre half and never will­ be, davie wier is past it and it breaks my heart to see­ my team in complete dissaray. god help us on tuesday­ night.celtic played like eunuchs no penetration.again­ like rangers they were devoid of ideas to beat a­ motherwell team who played to their own strengths and­ celtic struggled to match them.if we were to jump ship­ to the epl we would be in the championship after 1­ season.

    From reenybob64, on Mon 19 Oct 2:01PM

  4. Pt.42....I agree, I am a celtic fan, but have a big­ respect for rangers.........there is no need for­ bigotry on this site.......however there are plenty of­ 'ordinary' old firm fans on here too....they­ should not be included with the clowns as you put it...

    From peerz44, on Mon 19 Oct 1:14PM

  5. hello you clowns , why dont u write about football­ instead of the pish u usually write, i am fed up of­ hearing bile about septic or the best team in scotland­ cmon u gers ,its getting boring i like to talk football­ , but all i hear is bigotry???......ho­ hum......gers/spurs

    From jimbo, on Sun 18 Oct 9:11PM

  6. frankie time you were back in th blue cave for­ winter..ya mad bear!

    From zzgus f, on Sun 18 Oct 9:10PM

  7. CELTIC FC. . . . .MORE MATALAN THAN CATALAN. . . . . .

    From magk07, on Sun 18 Oct 8:38PM

  8. point 38, strong words, i don't think Mowbray is­ the man for you, as for players, they need a good time­ to settle in sometimes, look at Hately he needed a­ season and a certain Andy Goram needed time and they­ turned out ok!!! the fans wanted them out as i well­ remember.

    From Gary S, on Sun 18 Oct 8:31PM

  9. WTF is happening here?? we have the worst old firm­ teams in living( and mibbee even in prehistoric ) this,­ is f*cking shocking.
    smith has nothing to work with at­ Mordor, but Mowbray was given the opportunity to sign­ playeres. he signed players alright, good players,­ N'guemo (loan), fox is good, but where is the­ organisation??

    I met Mowbray in a club in Glasgow city­ centre about three weeks ago and I invited him to a­ party later on. He said he couldn't manage, but I­ said that was ok and we all knew that, but he could­ still come to the party...

    The team needs sorted out­ and if Mowbray can't doit we need someone who can. ­ I am disgusted with the way celtic are playing. we­ should be running away with this league already and­ where are we??? in second place behind a second rate­ rangers all due to a second rate manager.
    I'm sick­ of him already.

    From frankiethebear2002, on Sun 18 Oct 8:19PM

  10. Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn, at the­ going down of the sun and in the morning, we WILL­ remember them, LEST WE FORGET.

    From beetroot1972, on Sun 18 Oct 7:39PM

  11. haigy teams grind out results but not every week the­ last 4 games you have had 3 draws anda win thats not­ good enough even if you were allowed into the­ premiership you and the ceptic are kidding yourself if­ you belive you can compete at that level,both the old­ firm are dreadful this season and if there is a team­ that can be consistant this is the season to split the­ old firm and at the moment there are a few contenders­ motherwell,dundee utd,hibs who at present ar playing­ better football with more cmmitment

    From paul, on Sun 18 Oct 7:11PM

  12. SPL - Miller double sees Rangers beat Celtic,just­ thought i would add that again i never get tired of­ seeing that lol

    From bluenoseburger, on Sun 18 Oct 5:35PM

  13. I CARE

    From beetroot1972, on Sun 18 Oct 4:08PM

  14. who cares!

    From What-a-Load-of-Rubbish-U-Lot, on Sun 18 Oct 3:16PM

  15. who cares who id top. top in Scotland is equal to­ bottom of USA leagues! just have no idea how to play­ footie, football should be banned in Scotland as they­ are making a mockery out of the sport!

    From What-a-Load-of-Rubbish-U-Lot, on Sun 18 Oct 3:15PM

  16. and the greatest fans in the world cannot find it­ within themselves to honour our war heroes. AT THE­ GOING DOWN OF THE SUN AND IN THE MORNING, WE WILL­ REMEMBER THEM, LEST WE FORGET.FGAU.

    From beetroot1972, on Sun 18 Oct 2:54PM

  17. oh dear thats a shame they couldnt win,i bet there was­ howls,moans,booing,jeering down parkhead way yesterday­ and i reckon boy broon lasted 90mins again and done­ nowt,robson got the hook,mogga out for crimbo,lol

    From bluenoseburger, on Sun 18 Oct 12:01PM

  18. RE bluenoseburrger, nothing each fellow bear, WE ARE­ THE PEOPLE FGAU

    From beetroot1972, on Sun 18 Oct 11:31AM

  19. THATS WHY WEER CHAMPIONSSSS ..any taigz watchin the­ champions league is week? Bhoy Lovers

    From Craigy, on Sun 18 Oct 10:54AM

  20. anybody know how celtic got on yesterday?

    From bluenoseburger, on Sun 18 Oct 10:52AM
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