CELTIC finally broke their Old Firm hoodoo last night to move within 180 minutes of Scottish Cup glory - and wrecked the treble dream of Rangers into the bargain. Celtic ended a nine-match 22-month winless streak against their arch-rivals with a thrilling quarter-final victory at Parkhead.
A Malky Mackay header and a Paolo Di Canio penalty within the first 18 minutes effectively settled the tie against an injury-hit Rangers.
The victory will provide a tonic to Celtic in their bid to stop Rangers equalling their record of nine successive league titles. Five points behind, Celtic meet Rangers back at Parkhead in the league on March 16th.
Manager Tommy Burns had insisted that Celtic could break their mould of failure in the fixture if they cut out defensive errors. Instead, it was Rangers who creaked at the back without the inspiration of Richard Gough, absent through injury.
Referee Jim McCluskey, under the spotlight after ruling out a Jorge Cad etc `goal' when the sides met at New Year, awarded one penalty and turned down two other claims by Celtic. He also had to book five players - Rangers' Ian Ferguson, David Robertson and Alan McLaren, and Celtic's Enrico Annoni and Alan Stubbs.
It was Celtic's first Parkhead win over Rangers for four years and came in front of 49,519 fans and millions of TV viewers. It was also a special night for Burns, who was forced to watch from the stand as he started a touchline ban which will run until September.
Rangers were dealt a double fitness blow before kick-off, with skipper Gough and striker Durie both failing fitness tests. They joined Paul Gascoigne, Sebastian Rozental and Staurt McCall on the sidelines. Smith made one change from the side who drew at Aberdeen, recalling Erik Bo Andersen, who scored twice against Celtic on January 2nd.
Celtic, by contrast, saw skipper Paul McStay, Peter Grant and Jackie McNamara beat injury, and all three were restored to the side. Brian McLaughlin, David Hannah and Andreas Thom were the men to step down, while Italian defender Annoni was pitched into his first Old Firm derby in only his second appearance.
With Thom and Van Hooydonk on the bench, Celtic lined up with Mackay, Stubbs and Annoni in a three-man central defence, with Di Canio up front with Cadete.
Andy Goram had not conceded a goal to Celtic at Parkhead in four previous visits yet he was picking the ball out of the net twice in the first 18 minutes.
In the 10th minute McLaren conceded a corner and when Di Canio swept it over from the left, defender Mackay rose to net with a sweet header.
The second goal arrived in controversial circumstances, with McCluskey pointing to the spot after Joachim Bjorklund challenged Cadete and the striker spun to the turf. Di Canio ignored any fuss and coolly slotted the ball beyond Goram to register his 13th goal of the season.
Rangers display after their early setbacks was rather limp and they never really threatened to reel in Celtic who gave a controlled performance throughout.
Afterwards Burns paid tribute to his players for following his pre-match plans to the letter. "I could not be happier. The players gave all they could and we had the breaks we needed at the right time. The team followed my instructions perfectly. I'm thrilled for the supporters, but it's only one game. We need to build on this and take the form into the next game.
"Tonight was pretty much a game of cat and mouse. They came here to play and had to come at us after our goal, but there is no point in us winning this and losing the next one."
Rangers' manager Walter Smith admitted the home side had deserved their triumph, but promised to lift his side for the Old Firm's next clash in just 10 days' time. "It was very disappointing for us because I don't think we really competed. They were the better side.
"They were very solid at the back and stopped us playing and deserved their victory, so all credit to them they worked extremely hard and were the more determined team."
Celtic's Paul McStay insisted that victory was just reward for his side. "There was a bit of pressure on us tonight, but wee handled it well. We have maintained good form against Rangers without getting the breaks, so tonight was long overdue.
"We put in a lot of effort here our attitude was bang on. And we got the run of the ball, went ahead early on and contained them well after that."
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