Rangers 1-2 Celtic: Title lead looks good after ugly Derby day win under ‘safe’ Ange Postecoglou

On a day of ugliness at Ibrox, it was more a case of frailty than Old Firm for the defeated champions. Rangers unsuccessfully threw the kitchen sink at Celtic. Some people among the Rangers scandalously endorsed missiles.

The police are investigating. While they’re at it, they might organize a search party for anyone who still thinks that title is going anywhere other than east town. The league isn’t over yet, but the band is playing and the lady is about to sing.

Celtic didn’t show much of the panache that blew Rangers away last time out, but they were still too good for a side now six points behind with six games to go.

To put that in context, Celtic have lost six points in five months. The idea that they will lose the same number in the run-in is a bit far-fetched.

Celtic have built up a sizable lead at the top while struggling to field their strongest team throughout the season. That’s something. However, that day is coming. Kyogo Furuhashi is on the way.

Not only was there a defeat for Rangers, there was the aroma of £30m in Champions League loot blowing away in the wind to deal with. And shame too. The throwing of glass onto the pitch and the firing of other rockets at Celtic players and staff, one of whom was cut and required stitches, was shocking.

In a stadium with advanced surveillance cameras, there is hope that the culprits will be found and punished. Rangers would want that just like everyone else.

The Scottish Professional Football League say they are awaiting the match delegate’s report. Given that the league’s governing body doesn’t impose sanctions after sectarian chanting – it says it’s not in its power – is it unrealistic to expect it to do anything about the safety of players and coaches who are compromised? Scottish football needs to deal with its moronic element much better.

Celtic asked questions, Rangers found no answers

The game, well, it wasn’t epic, but that’s how it is sometimes when the stakes are so high. Rangers took the lead with a terrific goal that suggested they could do to Celtic what Celtic did to them in February, but that clinical advantage faded before long.

Callum McGregor helped them shatter their lead by nagging them and causing the confusion which fellow midfielder Tom Rogic capitalized on with a cool finish. Cameron Carter-Vickers, centre-back, scored the winning goal. Celtic deserved their win.

The fact that they made it without reaching the heights they know they are capable of will only make it sweeter. It was Rangers’ first league home defeat in two years and it looked remarkably like a changing of the guard.

There are currently two versions of Rangers. There’s Rangers in Europe, where they play against and beat teams that aren’t expected to beat them. This season, in the Europa League, they are reveling in their underdog guise.

Then there are the domestic Rangers that exist in a pressure cooker. The expectation is like a dead weight on their shoulders – and they haven’t handled it well. Celtic, dramatically recast under Ange Postecoglou, have asked questions and Rangers have found no answers.

Rangers tried to strengthen their starting line-up from last season, but they struggled. Midfielder James Sands, forward Fashion Sakala and winger Amad Diallo all started on the bench on Sunday. Juninho Bacuna was signed in the summer but has since left the club. Other midfielders Aaron Ramsey and John Lundstram started against Celtic but didn’t have the impact their coach expected of them.

Postecoglou, meanwhile, has hit the mark on the transfer market. Give him a colorful mohican and he’s Peter ‘Snakebite’ Wright, he’s that sure.

However, this wasn’t a game that its creative players lit up. Strong defense and good characters got them through.

Tottenham Hotspur centre-back Cameron Carter-Vickers’ career has been revived by Celtic on loan

“Another world under Postecoglou”

It is a team built by Postecoglou with breakneck speed and unerring accuracy, a team that quickly settled in and bonded. This is a fine management feat.

Eight of Sunday’s starting XI were not at the club 10 months ago. Rogic was there but he looked like he was past his prime. Greg Taylor was there too but the left-back was deemed inferior by some of his own supporters.

Both played well on Sunday. While most others ran around with their hair on fire in that first half, Rogic was one of the few to show composure on the ball.

We see Postecoglou’s influence in the stories of two others who made great achievements. Joe Hart had to save one – and he did it. It was a huge moment.

The former England goalkeeper has been unhappily hopping from club to club for the past six years. Carter-Vickers, who defended brilliantly and scored the winner, has a similar story to tell. From Tottenham Hotspur to Sheffield United, to Ipswich Town, to Swansea City, to Stoke City, to Luton Town, to Bournemouth – it’s been a traveling one-man roadshow for years.

Ange Postecoglou converted Celtic in a short time

Hart and Carter-Vickers have found stability under Postecoglou at Celtic. The Australian’s management wasn’t just concerned with finding gems in Japan, but also reviving players that others had given up.

What Postecoglou has done, brilliantly signing and reviving players already at the club, is reminiscent of what Brendan Rodgers did in his first season at Celtic, bringing in Moussa Dembele and Scott Sinclair and the careers of Scott Brown and revived James Forrest.

He did it from a position of weakness – miles behind Rangers last season and chaotic in the transfer market with a disgruntled support looking on.

Celtic failed in their pursuit of Eddie Howe as manager last summer. If the football gods exist, they may have sent a message to the club. It’s like another world under Postecoglou and Sunday was the latest manifestation of it.

So much has happened so quickly under his watch. The feeling that he’s just getting into the job must be exhilarating to followers. It will take something remarkable to stop them now.