Scottish Premier League Update

Ali Hannah on the latest from the Scottish Premier League, May 2008

Celtic | Rangers | Scotland

Celtic Roundup

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All of a sudden, the garden is looking a little rosier for Gordon Strachan, and Celtic in particular.

After back-to-back Old Firm wins the Parkhead side are on a hot vein of form with every element of a gambler's lucky streak evident in their four straight league successes against Motherwell, Aberdeen and Rangers that have catapulted them into a five-point lead in the SPL – a fate that has halved the bookmakers' odds against their retaining the title from a prohibitive 4-1 on to a more backable 1-2.

Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink's impossibly late winner in the fourth minute of stoppage time in the first of the Old Firm fixtures after Scott McDonald had missed a penalty, Aberdeen's disallowed, but perfectly legitimate, equaliser three days later and McDonald's offside opening goal the other day suggest that Celtic are getting the rub of the green at the most critical juncture of the season.

McDonald was so narrowly offside when Vennegoor of Hesselink headed the ball into his path that it was easy to understand how the linesman, Tom Murphy, could be fooled. Nobody in the press box, for example, could be sure until a review of the slow-motion television replay at half-time.

Nor could it be argued, from an overview of the entire 90 minutes, that Celtic's triumph was unwarranted. Indeed, through a second half in which they were comfortably in control, it was slightly surprising that they did not win by a wider margin. Even so, the McDonald goal would have to be considered a break.

Strachan will be well aware that lady luck can turn sour all too quickly and he has no intention of tempting providence by talking up his team's chances of remaining in front all the way to the finish.

The Celtic manager, in any case, has abundant experience of the vicissitudes of a fickle game.

"We are the Champions until somebody takes it off us," Strachan said bullishly after inflicting the 3-2 defeat on Walter Smith's side. "But I can't tell you how anyone else will react to it, it just makes us feel good about ourselves. We have a satisfied dressing room and that is as good as you get here.

Memories of the unproductive five-week period that immediately preceded the present rewarding run – during which his team were eliminated from the Champions League by Barcelona, from the Scottish Cup by Aberdeen, and dropped eight league points to Dundee United, Rangers and Motherwell – are too painful and too recent to tease him into believing that adversity is suddenly all behind him.

Strachan, however, has good reason to expect that this latest victory in the Old Firm match should encourage his players to believe that they can maintain a 100 per cent success rate in their three remaining fixtures – away to Motherwell, at home to Hibernian and away to Dundee United – thereby maximising the pressure on Rangers, whose last six matches will be crammed into a short, demanding period that begins with their visit to Easter Road on Sunday.

If there was such a thing as a curse on Celtic through the month of March and the first week of April, they seem not only to have shrugged it off, but to have transferred it to Ibrox. The onset of an epidemic of injuries and suspensions in the Rangers squad in the past few weeks is surely at least partly responsible for the startling discovery that they have won only two of their last eight matches.

That is a strange statistic for a team for whom success in four major tournaments remains a distinct possibility, but, even more curiously, the failures have not inflicted irreparable damage. One of the drawn games – against St Johnstone in the Scottish Cup semi-final – was decided in their favour in the penalty shoot-out, another, with Sporting Lisbon in the Uefa Cup quarter-final, was retrieved with victory in the second leg in Portugal, while a third, in the European semi-final with Fiorentina, could once again be nullified by a score draw or better in Italy.

Remarkably, only three of those eight outings have been in the Premier League and even the eight points dropped in the two defeats by Celtic and a draw with Dundee United have not been ruinous in terms of their prospects of regaining the championship.

They may have been sufficiently hurtful, though, to have caused uncertainty in a squad whose morale will not have been helped by the seemingly endless series of misadventures that have denied them the services of a number of influential players and seriously reduced Smith's selection options.

Considering the resilience they have demonstrated at home and abroad throughout an exciting but rigorous campaign, Rangers are entitled to be considered sound favourites to win the league championship. But they may have to find a way of getting lady luck onside.

Midfielder Robson has seized his chance to shine in the wake of Scott Brown's suspension and his decisive penalty and combative style has endeared him hugely to the Celtic fans in recent weeks.

However, Japanese midfielder Shunsuke Nakamura has revealed he was supposed to take the penalty in Sunday's Old Firm game which kept Celtic's title hopes alive.

Nakamura was chosen by boss Gordon Strachan to take any spot-kick after first choice Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink had been subbed. But as Nakamura prepared to take the penalty Robson grabbed the ball and decided nobody else was getting near it.

Nakamura said: "I was selected as the second penalty taker on Sunday after Jan so when he went off I was supposed to replace him if we got any. But when we won the penalty, Barry didn't wait to see who was supposed to take it and grabbed the ball from Georgios Samaras.

"I had no chance of telling him it was supposed to be me. I don't think he knew that. When I saw the two of them arguing over who was going to take it, I didn't want to get involved.

"It would not have felt right for me also to be asking for the ball.

"There was no stopping Barry and he took it brilliantly. I was delighted for him that he scored. He made a good decision." Nakamura also revealed he had been suffering from a fever before Sunday's game and shouldn't have played. But he did not want to miss out on what may even be his last Old Firm match if he leaves Celtic in the summer.

Nakamura said: "I did not sleep well before the game because I had a fever. I did not feel well and was not fit to be honest. But the manager still chose me to play and I was happy to do that for him.”

Artur Boruc

Celtic goalkeeper Artur Boruc appears highly unlikely to face disciplinary action over the T-shirt he displayed after he celebrated the Parkhead side's 3-2 win over Rangers.

The Poland international, renowned for a number of incidents during and in the wake of previous Old Firm derbies, was again central to the controversy at Celtic Park this weekend.

After Sunday's game, however, Boruc revealed a T-shirt which said 'God bless the Pope' on the front and back. The Scottish Football Association, however received the match report from Craig Thomson in which no mention of the shirt was made.

The governing body has always maintained it will only consider disciplinary action for misdemeanours mentioned in an official's report, meaning Boruc, 28, is extremely unlikely to face any action for his T-shirt. No matter what the judicial end of the incident is, however, the merit of wearing the slogan will be deemed an unnecessary provocation by Rangers supporters inside Celtic Park.

The former Legia Warsaw player, who joined Celtic on loan in July 2005 before signing a permanent contract with the Glasgow club three months later, has been no stranger to controversy throughout his career in Scotland. Boruc received a caution from the Procurator Fiscal for breach of the peace at a game at Ibrox in February 2006, although Strathclyde Police stressed that the caution was not due to the player blessing himself in front of Rangers fans.

The goalkeeper, however, also earned scorn from the Rangers supporters for waving a flag emblazoned with the word 'Champions' around Ibrox at the end of the final Old Firm game last season. Last month, Boruc was yellow-carded for gesturing at Hibernian supporters at the end of Celtic's 2-0 win at Easter Road.

Strathclyde Police view Sunday's incident as a matter for the SFA, however.

Boruc, though, may well have evaded any disciplinary action this time as his T-shirt depicted the face of the late John Paul II, who was a Polish citizen.

Strachan attempted to defuse the incident after the game when quizzed about the T-shirt, claiming "If it was 'God bless Myra Hindley', I might have a problem", but the incident has aroused suspicion that this was a final message to Rangers supporters before the Poland international departs Celtic Park in the summer.

Boruc, rated at around £10million, has been linked with moves throughout Europe – notably to Arsenal, AC Milan and Bayern Munich – and an impressive showing with Poland at the European Championships in Austria and Switzerland this summer could see that figure multiply if Celtic decide to cash in on the man they signed for a fee thought to be around £650,000. And Boruc himself has conceded he would consider a move if the right club came in for his services.

However, Boruc has made little secret of his views on Rangers, telling Polish newspaper Gazeta Wyborcza after the defeat at Ibrox last October that he did not shake hands with any opposition players because: "I don't have to love anyone. I don't like this club, or these players." The Celtic No1 was little known outside of the country when he linked up with countryman Maciej Zurawski as one of Strachan's first signings.

Celtic had struggled with the goalkeeping position even during the success of the Martin O'Neill era and, while David Marshall had promised much he was beaten nine times in two games as Strachan's reign got off to an ignominious start in 2005. Boruc took over for the second leg of the already-lost Champions League qualifier against Artmedia Bratislava and never looked back. Boruc's stock is at a high but Strachan must have become weary of the continual war of attrition between Boruc and Rangers supporters in the aftermath of Old Firm derbies.

The Pole has become the undoubted focal point for Ibrox ire – then again, that fact alone serves only to underline just how important he is to success at Celtic.

Rangers

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Managers always claim it's a marathon and not a sprint. Bur if the current SPL campaign is just that then Rangers will be praying they haven't hit the wall just as they reach the landmark 26-mile mark. In the final few steps they have to maintain their focus as physical and mental exhaustion threatens to derail their season.

Successive defeats to Celtic have badly hit the morale of a team that has been noted for both its stubborn defensive durability and its size this season. With the injury problems piling up, this is a squad that is beginning to be stretched to its very limits just as the games really start to pile up.

Success for the Ibrox side this season has been built on the previously impressive defensive axis of Allan McGregor, David Weir and Carlos Cuellar. Cuellar's suspension and an injury to McGregor meant neither was available to face Celtic. When Weir then pulled up lame early in the second half, Walter Smith looked towards his bench and saw only Amdy Faye as a possible replacement

There were three natural centre-halves already out on the pitch in Kirk Broadfoot, Sasa Papac and Brahim Hemdani, but rather than realign drastically his team's shape and personnel, Smith chose to throw on Faye, a defensive midfielder to trade, as a direct replacement for Weir. Andy Webster, the perennially injured centre-half signed on an extended loan deal from Wigan Athletic, was nowhere to be seen, despite being deemed fit enough to take a seat on the bench against Fiorentina earlier in the week.

Faye was a fish out of water. He was not comfortable operating in the centre of defence and struggled badly to cope with the pace of the game. That situation highlights the crux of Rangers' current difficulties. For most of the season, their first-choice starting XI has proven to be more than a match for any team, both at home and abroad. Only now, as suspensions and injuries begin to decimate Smith's options, are chinks beginning to appear in Rangers' armour. Versatility may be a commendable trait but it is no substitute for an established player who knows his role inside-out.

Smith began the season wondering who to leave out as Rangers got off to a flying start in the league. Now he finds himself fretting over who he has still available for the remaining eight or nine matches that could define his legacy. Those numbers do not appear to be swelling as, for every player that returns from injury or suspension, another seems to drops out.

But, nevertheless, the league title remains Rangers' to lose. It is not new ground for Smith. Exactly a decade ago, the conclusion of his first spell as manager coincided with Rangers seeking a historic 10th consecutive Premier League title. Despite Celtic also regularly slipping up in a dramatic conclusion to the campaign, defeats away to Aberdeen and at home to Kilmarnock, the latter in the penultimate game of the season, would eventually prove costly as Celtic took the title by just two points.

Jorg Albertz, the Rangers midfielder who scored 15 goals that season, concedes there are similarities between 1998 and 2008 but believes his former club possess the mettle to grind it out this time around.

"That was a very disappointing season for us all. We had done so well to catch up with Celtic and it was very close going into the last few games," he recalled. "But we lost to Aberdeen and then Kilmarnock and that was very costly for us.

"At least this time for Rangers it is still in their own hands and I don't think there is anything for them to worry about. The players will be very tired as it has been a long campaign but they can still win another three competitions including the UEFA Cup and the thought of more silverware is always a great motivator.”