Poor Celts Held By Rangers

Sunday 12th March 2017: Scottish Premiership Celtic 1 (Armstrong 35) Rangers 1 (Hill 88)

Celtic turned in one of our worst performances of the season today, being held 1-1 by Rangers at Celtic Park. Stuart Armstrong gave Celtic a first half lead, before a late Clint Hill equaliser brought Rangers level. There was also late controversy as referee Bobby Madden denied Celtic a late penalty.

Brendan Rodgers made one change from last week as James Forrest replaced GMS. Celtic began the game quite slowly and Rangers were quickly in the ascendancy, indeed the had the best chance of the game when Dedryck Boyata misjudged a ball leaving Martyn Waghorn clean through on goal, but Craig Gordon made the save with his feet.

However, Celtic gradually got more into the game, and we took the lead in the 35th minute, Stuart Armstrong winning the ball from Jason Holt and driving in a great shot into the bottom corner.

Celtic had more possession in the second half but were struggling to create any real chances, and we suffered when Armstrong was taken off injured. Gordon was forced to make another great save from Waghorn before Hill equalised, following in a shot after another great save.

Controversy arrived shortly after, when it looked like Hill fouled Leigh Griffiths and Bobby Madden didn't award Celtic a penalty. In my opinion, it should have been a foul just outside the box and a red card for Hill, but probably not a penalty.

The worst aspect about today was that many of our 'big' players didn't turn up, Dembele and Sinclair had amongst their worst games of the season, Sviatchenko struggled and Forrest was quiet. Brown eventually came into a game, but Armstrong and Gordon were by far our best players. This game also showed how much we miss the guile of Tom Rogic. Hopefully he'll be back for the Scottish Cup semi-final against Rangers, when a much better performance than today's will be required.