For the avoidance of doubt, Rangers will never have a better opportunity to beat Celtic than they had on Sunday afternoon. With half a team out, two inexperienced centre backs who had never played together before and no away fans they simply had to put a marker down.
Unfortunately for them an all too familiar script played out as 50'000 angry bears ended up baying for blood at full time. Michael Beale was hailed as the messiah when he travelled up from QPR, he has now been reduced to the lowly description of a cockney used car salesmen by his own 'fans'. Max Branning on steroids.
There were of course nervy moments for Celtic but the unrelenting pressure that was supposed to be levelled at the backline did not materialise. Largerbielke had a few shaky moments however as this was probably the biggest match of his career so far it was to be expected.
In the first half he chose the worst possible time to imitate Jack Hendry at Partick thistle away as he spent what seemed a lifetime on the ball before Dessers swooped in on him. The Rangers man then ran in on goal before setting up Kemar Roofe to finish. On initial viewing, there didn't appear to be much wrong with the goal.
Following a review from the Vatican Assisted Referee (VAR) however the goal was chopped off, much to the amazement of Celtic fans who are not typically used to benefitting from decisions like this at Ibrox.
Bizarrely enough it was former SPFL referee Bobby Madden who provided the explanation via his Instagram regarding why the goal was correctly chopped off. Largerbielke was in control of the ball whilst he was motioning to kick it, Dessers then planted his foot in between his foot and the ball whilst never being in control of it. This led to an infringement and him unfairly winning the ball.
Despite this of course, Rangers have decided to use the decision as an opportunity to partake in their favourite pass time...playing the victim. The Ibrox club have written to the SFA demanding an explanation in what seems to be nothing more than a desperate attempt to play to the gallery following another defeat.
Hilariously it was the added time from the disallowed goal which gave Kyogo the time to score the winning goal. Having missed a massive chance earlier on in the match the level of composure shown to hit a volley first time into the bottom corner was immense. The striker was probably the only player on the pitch capable of a finish like that and he continues to add fuel to fire of the debate that he is the best since Larsson.
Whilst the second half was a stressful affair the actual threat directed towards Celtic's makeshift defence was fairly minimal. Celtic even arguably had the better chances in the second half. Liam Scales put in quite possibly the best performance of his career so far and the plaudits he is enjoying currently are nothing less than he deserves. The majority of the support had their doubts regarding whether he could make it through the game unscathed, not only did he do that but he helped to guide his team mate Lagerbielke through numerous ropey moments. Joe Hart also proved a few doubters wrong with a top tier performance calling on all of his invaluable experience to help Celtic to a clean sheet.
Celtic (and Motherwell) are now already 4 points clear and will only get better as the defensive injury crisis gradually resolves itself with Reo Hatate also coming back into the midfield. That will be the main worry for Rangers who had a relatively full strength team to choose from and still couldn't lay a glove on Brendan Rodgers. His 83% win rate at Ibrox will undoubtedly begin to psychologically affect Michael Beale who is already hanging on to his job for dear life.
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