Rangers 2 Celtic 3: Tactical gamble pays off for Brendan Rodgers as 10-man Bhoys win Old Firm Derby at Ibrox

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Richard Parry11 March 2018

Celtic moved nine points clear of rivals Rangers with a 3-2 victory over their arch rivals at Ibrox.

Rangers took the lead in a scintillating start to the match, with Josh Windass firing past Scott Bain inside five minutes.

It was Windass’ eleventh goal in his past nine matches, and a worrying start for Bain who was making his Celtic debut with Dorus de Vries and Craig Gordon both sidelined.

But Celtic pulled themselves level with 11 minutes on the clock as Tom Rogic curled one past Wes Foderingham after a slight deflection off of David Bates.

Photo: Ian MacNicol/Getty Images
Ian MacNicol/Getty Images

The Rangers defender appeared to twist his knee in the lead up and that proved to be his final involvement in the match, with the 21-year-old taken on a stretcher and replaced by Fabio Cardoso.

Photo: REUTERS
REUTERS

The hosts would take the lead for the second time in the game via a riffled drive from Portuguese winger Daniel Candeias and looked set to hold a one-goal advantage at half-time, but Celtic struck late in stoppage time to level proceedings once again.

Photo: Getty Images
Getty Images

Moussa Dembele latched onto Scott Brown’s pass and, having held off the attentions of Bruno Alves before lofting a half-volley over Foderingham to cap an exhilarating first half.

The second half, in comparison, started in far more cagey fashion – but it soon burst into life when Jozo Simunovic was shown a red card for an alleged elbow on Alfredo Morelos.

That sparked Celtic to make a change, but Brendan Rodgers opted to bring on striker Edouard for James Forrest in oppose to strengthen their resolve. And how it paid off.

Photo: Getty Images
Getty Images

Within two minutes Celtic were ahead. Edouard collected the ball from Dembele, stepped inside Sean Goss before curling an effort beyond Foderingham’s reach.

Morelos missed a golden chance to level the match in the final minutes – hitting the post from just three-yards out - and Celtic held on to take the three points at Ibrox, to extend their lead at the top of the table.

Starting line-ups

Rangers XI: Foderingham, Tavernier, Bates, Alves, John, Docherty, Goss, Candeias, Windass, Murphy, Morelos.

Substitutes: Alnwick, Cardoso, Holt, Halliday, Miller, Cummings, Herrera.

Celtic XI: Bain; Ajer, Simunovic, Boyata, Tierney; Ntcham, Brown; Forrest, Rogic, McGregor; Dembele.

Substitutes: Doohan, Hendry, Roberts, Sinclair, Armstrong, Edouard, Musonda

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