James Forrest earns Celtic late win after Rangers have Alfredo Morelos sent off

You can only ponder what on earth the Old Firm scene would be like if the teams were closely matched. Celtic’s stretching of their league advantage over Rangers to 13 points was overshadowed by the kind of ill-feeling that routinely spikes when Scotland’s biggest clubs meet.

The problem for Rangers was, once again, their poor discipline. Alfredo Morelos collected a fifth red card of the season within half an hour. The patience of Steven Gerrard with his Colombian striker – talented but a liability who has also been booked 17 times – has snapped.

“I’ve gone above and beyond for Alfredo,” the Rangers manager said. “I will recommend to the board that he is fined a week’s wages, with the money to go to the supporters who came here. I can’t defend him any more.”

In addition Andy Halliday was shown a second yellow card for his part in an ugly melee at the final whistle and, like Morelos, will miss Rangers’ game with Hearts on Wednesday. The Scottish FA may well compound Gerrard’s problems by taking action against Ryan Kent, who raised his hands to Scott Brown after Celtic scored their late winner. This was a match that regularly threatened to boil over and ultimately did when Brown conducted celebrations in front of the Rangers support. Gerrard did offer sympathy for Halliday, who had taken umbrage with Brown’s antics. “I’d probably have done the same,” said the former Liverpool captain.

Neil Lennon, the Celtic manager, was back in the sanctuary of his dressing room by the time players were pushing and shoving en masse. Lennon delivered a sharp “not from us” when asked abou the poor behaviour. “Our players kept their discipline very well,” Lennon insisted before branding Rangers’ treatment of Brown as “disgraceful”.

The manager added of his captain: “I didn’t see his celebration, I didn’t see where he went. He takes a lot of flak and maybe he’s given a little bit back. It’s like he’s the bad boy but he’s not. He’s just giving a little bit back because of the amount of abuse he takes throughout the years. He doesn’t need any advice from me.”

The contrast to this rancour was the delivery of three fine goals. Odsonne Edouard, the best player on display, marauded from the half-way line before flicking the ball past Allan McGregor to send the hosts in front. The scale of celebrations, with Celtic supporters in one corner spilling from the stand on to the playing surface, led to a steward being injured. This was all somewhat needless; not to mention unsafe.

As Morelos saw red for an elbow in Brown’s face, Rangers’ task appeared insurmountable. Yet, contrary to widespread prediction, Gerrard’s men produced an excellent second-half display. Kent equalised after dancing between Celtic’s central defenders with ease. Ryan Jack should have sent the visitors ahead but wastefully chipped over Scott Bain’s crossbar.

With Celtic Park, by Lennon’s later admission, in a state of edginess the champions-elect awoke from their slumber. James Tavernier gifted possession to Callum McGregor, who in turn found Edouard. The former Paris Saint-Germain player showed wonderful composure to tee up James Forrest, who finished with aplomb.

There remained scope for Rangers salvation. Instead, Joe Worrall was denied by a brilliant last-ditch tackle from Kristoffer Ajer. “At 10 v 11 we were by far the better team,” said a “frustrated” Gerrard. Celtic, it must be noted, also finished the match with a man down when Dedryck Boyata sustained a hamstring injury after all three substitutes had been used.

For Lennon, who is seeking the Celtic job beyond his existing contract lasting until the summer, this was a potentially vital win. “It’s psychologically a massive hurdle,” Lennon said. “The emotion going into the game for the players would have been huge. You can see it at the end, they are dead on their feet again. A lot of players were cramping up and that’s not like them. It’s the emotion, the physicality of the game, the tempo, heat, all those things added up. In the end they’ve done it again, whether you think they played well or not.”

Winning is all that counts, the undertone is one of bitterness. The more things change...

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