Report: Rangers 3-0 Celtic

Report: Rangers 3-0 Celtic

AN IMPRESSIVE display from Rangers saw them to a 3-0 victory in the final Old Firm derby of the Scottish Premiership season.

Todd Cantwell opened the scoring inside the first five minutes, before John Souttar doubled the advantage with a header. Fashion Jr added to the tally in the second-half to round-off what was a fantastic display from Michael Beale’s men.

The Gers boss named two changes from his side from last weekend’s victory over Aberdeen with Ryan Jack and John Souttar coming into the starting line-up in place of Ianis Hagi and Ben Davies. 

Robby McCrorie retained his place between the sticks, with James Tavernier, Connor Goldson, John Souttar and Ridvan in front of him. 

Ryan Jack joined John Lundstram and Nico Raskin in midfield with Todd Cantwell, Rabbi Matondo and Fashion Jr completing the Rangers XI.

The sun was shining on Glasgow as the city rivals met for the final time this campaign in a packed Ibrox Stadium. 

Rangers were looking to get off to a strong start in this derby and had an early sight of goal as Fashion Jr crossed the ball into the box in search of Rabbi Matondo but he was unable to keep his header on target as it drifted just wide of Hart’s left-hand post. 

The early pressure from Rangers paid off though, with the opening goal coming with just five minutes played at Ibrox. John Lundstram was picked out on the edge of the box by Fashion Jr and released a left-footed shot at goal which was pushed away by Joe Hart.

However, Todd Cantwell was alert to the rebound in the box to find the target with a low drilled effort to give Rangers the edge early in this game. 

The visitors almost had an instant response as Abada played through Oh, but he was denied by the woodwork. 

It was a positive start from Rangers in the first-half as they made it 2-0 with just over half an hour played.

A corner was swung into the box by James Tavernier, and Rangers showed their threat from set-pieces as John Souttar got a strong and powerful header on the ball to beat Joe Hart and net his first goal for the club. 

In the second-half, Bernabei sent an effort wide from a Celtic corner early into the half before Rangers came close to adding a third as Fashion Jr drove forward to deliver a ball into the box in search of Nico Raskin but the Belgian was unlucky as a Celtic defender managed to block his shot. 

Robby McCrorie was called into action with 50 minutes on the clock as Matt O’Riley broke from forward before trying to lift the ball over the Rangers keeper but he got a strong hand to the strike to turn it over the bar. 

Connor Goldson headed wide from James Tavernier’s delivery at a corner before Rabbi Matondo had a low strike gathered by Hart as the Light Blues looked to add to the scoring. 

Michael Beale introduced Ianis Hagi from the bench with 69 minutes played at Ibrox as the Romanian came on to replace Rabbi Matondo. 

Just seconds later, Rangers were three goals ahead. Todd Cantwell was involved once again as won the ball in a dangerous area and played it through to Fashion Jr who was one-on-one with Joe Hart.

The forward did incredibly well to take a touch round the Celtic number one, before slotting the ball low into the bottom of the net. 

Scott Arfield was introduced in the final 10 minutes of the game as he replaced Ryan Jack in the middle of the park before Glen Kamara, Alex Lowry and Zak Lovelace came on late in the game. 

It was a comfortable end to the match at Ibrox as Rangers saw out the final stages to take the victory in the derby.

RANGERS: McCrorie, Tavernier, Goldson, Souttar, Ridvan, Raskin, Lundstram (Kamara, 88), Cantwell (Lowry, 88), Jack (Arfield, 83), Matondo (Hagi, 69), Fashion Jr (Lovelace, 88). 

Subs: McGregor, Morelos, King, Devine.

Celtic: Hart, Starfelt, Abada (Maeda, 64), Jota Iwata, 74), Kobayashi, Oh (Furuhashi, 64), Bernabei, O’Riley (Haksabanovic, 74), Hatate (Turnball, 74), McGregor, Ralston.

Subs: Bain, Taylor, Forrest, Summers.