Match report for next old firm league game

[Gooseman 889]

This is how I see the next old firm league game going..

In the years to come there will be many “I was there” moments, grand fathers will sit and regale their grandsons with tales of how they witnessed history being made, yesterday was one such day. Ibrox was filled to capacity and the world wide audience was counted in the tens of millions. This was arguably the most significant football match of the last twenty years. The two great titans of Glasgow faced off once again, everyone wanted to witness this and no one dared predict what the outcome would be. Celtic, the reigning champions for the last four seasons, against Rangers, the newly promoted championship winners. The last time these two sides met Celtic strolled to a 3-0 victory and shortly after Rangers was consigned to the lower echelons of Scottish football. After a period of rebuilding; fiscal mismanagement and then some shrewd negotiations to bring in some much needed investment Rangers finally took their rightful place back in the top division.

The anticipation surrounding this game grew to fever pitch in the days running up to kick off. Every media outlet had former stars offering cautionary words against complacency and the need to remain focused. Sky news even had comments from world leaders such as Barrack Obama and Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbot.

Finally after the seemingly endless wait, Saturday arrived. Kick off was to be 3pm, the SPFL had negotiated a stand alone deal for this one match that would net both clubs in excess of £10 million pounds and the SPFL a further £2.5 million to be shared amongst the rest of the teams.

At 2.55pm the noise inside Ibrox was deafening, the atmosphere was electrifying; the travelling support was limited to just five thousand the rest of the capacity attendance taken up by Rangers fan. The two teams standing in the tunnel would be trying to focus on the first few minutes of the game, hoping that if a mistake was to be made, it wouldn’t be them that would make it.

The SFA had petitioned UEFA to allow the appointment of a European referee for this game and their wish was granted. Milorad Mazic was appointed to officiate, his assistants hailed from Spain and Germany, the 4th official was from France.

The game kicked off with Rangers playing towards the Copland Road end. The opening exchanges were nervy, with no real penetration from either side, after half an hour a genuinely chilling malevolence tackle from Celtic captain Scott Brown on young Gallagher saw him being shown a straight red from Mazic. All around the ground fans were on their feet; five thousand of them now convinced some kind of injustice had been perpetrated against Celtic. It was obvious then that a dangerously fragile temperament was already seriously overloaded because of the tension sweeping down from the stands holding 50,000 highly-charged supporters. Aird took the resulting free kick and sent a high long ball to the edge of the Celtic box; it was headed down into the path of Smith whose shoot cannoned off Commons.

It was not long afterwards when Rangers had won the free- kick deep on the right inside Celtic's territory that a fan breached the security cordon around the pitch and tried to get at Mazic. The would-be attacker was caught and dragged by Scotlands finest. In the 35 minute of the games Bell was called in to action after a well worked passing move down the wing set up Griffith to open the scoring, Bell was equal to this and turned the shot round the post, the resulting corner was cleared by Moshni. Just before the break Celtic's fans were silenced Rangers surged forward and Miller was allowed to gallop into shooting distance.

He didn't release the trigger and instead slipped a pass to Boyd whose shot was blocked by Mathews, the ball wasn’t cleared and the follow up was converted by Wallace who thundered the ball past Foster who was rooted to the spot. The Rangers fans erupted and the noise must have carried over all of Glasgow. Mazic blew for half time with the score 1- 0 to the newly promoted and resounding underdogs Rangers. During the break both sets of fans entertained themselves by signing their collection of songs, unfortunately for the travelling support no one could hear them. While the players were indoors trying to catch their breath after a frantic first half even by Old Firm standards, the ground staff were busy picking up the missiles which had been thrown on to the pitch. If the first half was frantic the opening to the second spell was utterly chaotic. 57 minutes gone and Celtic were behind and facing a huge test of their character, but even allowing for the sending off of their captain they failed miserably. Bell was booked in 82 minutes after a bizarre error. He rolled the ball in front of him as he trotted out of his box to start a move, but he dithered and Stokes pounced.

The winger blocked the clearance and the ball bounced into Bell's arms but he was a yard out of his area. Commons could have punished him further from the free-kick but Bell got his body behind the shot and was relieved to see the ball soar into the air and over his bar.

A few minutes later Stokes was clear on the edge of Rangers' penalty area and sent in a good low shot which Bell did well to knock away and then, at the opposite end, Miller wriggled away from Ambrose and should have done more than shoot straight at Foster who saved with his legs. In the dying moments of the match Rangers defended resolutely, nullifying every attempted attack, every loose ball was sent into the stands. Mazic blew the final whistle and Ibrox erupted again. Four years after their last meeting Rangers claimed the bragging rights in Glasgow. The Celtic players left the pitch while their fans brought shame to their club by attacking the stewards and police. The Rangers manger Ally McCoist stood in the technical area and shook the hand of every one of the Celtic players before running on to the pitch to join the celebrations with his players. What ever happens this season this one match will be remembered for many a year to come.

DREAM TEAM MAN OF THE MATCH: Wallace (Rangers).

01 Forster

02 Matthews

03 Izaguirre

06 Biton

04 Ambrose

05 van Dijk

08 Brown

15 Commons

28 Griffiths

10 Stokes

21 Mulgrew

1Bell

2Wallace

6McCulloch

3Mohsni

5Smith

7Peralta

8Gallagher

4Aird

10Shiels

11Miller

9Boyd

[G.E.C. 19,055]

The match was played in Sudan.

[The Godfather 72,642]

Wow

[bombaybadboy08 15,660]

Boyd's dismal record against the tims continues, Ally still plays him anyway!!

[BigDak 814]

Sorry to be a dick, but how does Wallace get man of the match if he isn't playing?

[GOAT 30,449]

Sorry to be a dick, but how does Wallace get man of the match if he isn't playing?

Anyway, I'll just leave this surreal thread and head to another.

[cumnockbear 2,446]

Wallace man of the match but he's not in the starting line up ? don't get me wrong i couldn't read it all i've got a cunt of a migraine, is there anywhere that states he came on as a sub ?

[A.T.G 10,773]

Sorry to be a dick, but how does Wallace get man of the match if he isn't playing?

[Jimfanciesthedude 24,934]

The winger blocked the clearance and the ball bounced into Bell's arms but he was a yard out of his area. Commons could have punished him further from the free-kick but Bell got his body behind the shot and was relieved to see the ball soar into the air and over his bar.

if your gonna write something like this, dont steal incidents that have happened in old firm games beforehand ffs

[G.E.C. 19,055]

Forster and Van Dyke will be gone by then.

[Gooseman 889]

Sorry to be a dick, but how does Wallace get man of the match if he isn't playing?

Sorted that. Cheers

[cumnockbear 2,446]

Forster and Van Dyke will be gone by then.

And Rangers will have a stronger team than the one playing

[cumnockbear 2,446]

Sorted that. Cheers

Now you've got 2 left backs

[Jimfanciesthedude 24,934]

if mcculloch is still at centre half next OF game we'll get slaughtered

[The Godfather 72,642]

Forster and Van Dyke will be gone by then.

Yup and they will have a much better team

[The Godfather 72,642]

if mcculloch is still at centre half next OF game we'll get slaughtered

If McCoist is in charge we will be slaughtered regardless.

[Jimfanciesthedude 24,934]

Now you've got 2 left backs

its cool allys in charge, wallace will be right back no doubt

[Gooseman 889]

I tried to keep it as realistic as I could and took things from a past game and reworked it a bit. If you want to do better please do.

[bombaybadboy08 15,660]

Were the Sons of Struth there and if so which end were they in?

[cumnockbear 2,446]

its cool allys in charge, wallace will be right back no doubt

Sounds like ally

[gogzy 31,195]

[cumnockbear 2,446]

Were the Sons of Struth there and if so which end were they in?

Craig Houston was in the Celtic end just like he was when they played Barcelona

[Jimfanciesthedude 24,934]

Were the Sons of Struth there and if so which end were they in?

nope, they vowed not to go back to ibrox as long as wallace was still there, and the thick cunts seen wallace in our starting line up so they boycotted the game

[NixonRFC 1,448]

FFS

[Thommo 708]

You're not normal, are you?