McDonald settles Old Firm dispute
Saturday 27 December 2008
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Celtic players celebrate with Scott McDonald (centre) after his winner (©Getty Images)
Celtic FC opened up a seven-point gap at the top of the Scottish Premier League after a second-half Scott McDonald goal gave them a 1-0 victory in the Old Firm derby against Rangers FC at Ibrox.
Scrappy opening
The win avenges Celtic's 4-2 home loss to their Glasgow rivals in August and also ends Rangers' unbeaten home record in 2008 in their last outing of the year. In a tight and scrappy first half, the home side created the only real opportunities. Steven Davis had a double sight of goal early on after being released by Kenny Miller. The midfielder followed up his own half-cleared cross but his initial effort was blocked by Gary Caldwell and he could only send the rebound wide. The hosts then had a goal disallowed when Kirk Broadfoot fouled Artur Boruc with the visiting goalkeeper scrambling to clear his own misdirected punch from a corner.
Superb winner
After the restart, Rangers had their best chance when Barry Ferguson sent Kris Boyd through on goal, but Boruc spread himself well to deny to striker who has 16 league strikes to his name this season. It was to prove a costly miss as in the 58th minute, McDonald scored the game's only goal when he picked up Georgios Samaras's flick, swivelled past Broadfoot and volleyed emphatically into the top corner. Rangers could not reply as Celtic held on to record their first win at Ibrox since February 2006.
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