RANGERS 1 CELTIC 1
Celtic maintained their vice like clamp on the SPL title at Ibrox with a throughly professional display that snuffed out the last vestige of a challenge from second place Rangers.
If you had belived the pre - match hype in the press it seemed Celtic were just turning up to be Lambs to the slaughter but in the end it was the Celtic fans who stayed behind to party In Ibrox's Broomloan road stand, full in the knowledge that the league title was won.
From the start Celtic took the game by the scruff of the neck and dominated the first half proceedings. As early as the first minte Larsson had a strike on goal from 25 metres that sailed just over the bar.
Celtic thought that they had earned a deserved lead on 14 minutes when Hartson stabbed the ball home following a Larsson mis hit. Unfortunately the linesman flagged for offside despie the fact that Hartson was at least a yard onside when the ball was released.
The linesman was in a perfect position to see this incident but chose to put his flag up and lett Rangers off the hook.
Celtic continued to dominate and a cute Larsson back heel flick again just cleared the bar with Klos rooted to the spot. The blustery wind was having an adverse effect on the game and the Rangers defence seemed to be all over the place at times as they tried to cope with the wind and with Celtic's probing attacks.
The break through for Celtic finally came in the 23rd minute when Larsson won the ball in a central forward position, held off the challnege by Amoruso and, after spotting the run of Petrov, slipped an exquisite pass into the Bugarians path. Petrov was clear on a one to one with Klos and made good work of slipping the ball through the keepers lega and into the empty net.
The first half ended with Celtic well on top and the closest Rangers came to an equaliser was when Flo almost got on the end of a Numan through ball.
HT RANGERS 0 CELTIC 1
Rangers started the second half in a more determined mood but although they were having a lot of posession they were offering no penetration and Celtic seemd to be coping extremely well with anything Rangers had to offer.
Young Stephen Crainey, in particular, was having a fine old firm debut and his block on Flo seven minutes into the half was vital.
Rangers continued to press though and finally got just reward for their efforts when Numan netted a wonder goal from all of 30 yards. He picked the ball up 35 yards out on the left strode forward and hit a wonderful strike the whizzed into the top right corner.
It was game on now and Rangers looked as though they were ready to take the initiative but Celtic steadied the ship and could have taken the lead again in 66 minutes when Hartson was set free on the right. The big striker hit his shot low and hard but Klos and Amoruso did well to block.
Rangers continued to press but most of their efforts were from long range, with Barry Ferguson, in particular, testing Douglas on two occasions. Agathe could have tied the points up for Celtic near then end but by switching the ball from his left to his right foot he lost time and space and his eventual shot was blocked.
In the end then the game ended in a draw that was clearly a far better result for Celtic than for Rangers. With seven games to go the Bhoys need three wins to clinch the title for a second year in a row. The game also proved that Celtic are far from a spent force, despite what the media may think.