Celtic emerged last Sunday with their Scottish Premiership title aspirations unscathed following a dramatic 3-3 draw at Ibrox.
Daizen Maeda, Matt O’Riley and Adam Idah got their names on the scoresheet for the visitors, and it appeared that the Bhoys would claim a monumental three points in Govan before Rabbi Matondo struck in stoppage time after evading Hyunjun Yang.
Nevertheless, Brendan Rodgers commended his side for securing a valuable point in difficult circumstances, as he stated post-match: “We’re disappointed not to win, but to leave here with it all in our hands is what we wanted—for that, I’m really proud.”
Of course, Celtic kept their destiny intact, with the reality that six wins in our final league matches would be enough to earn us a third successive league crown despite a topsy-turvy campaign at Parkhead.
With a clean bill of health regarding injuries, the Hoops have no excuses as they battle it out with Rangers for Scotland’s number one prize, which also comes with the financial significance of automatic entry to the Champions League group stages.
Chris Sutton says James Forrest could’ve been used vs Rangers
In the post-mortem of our Glasgow Derby stalemate, many supporters and pundits quickly highlighted Yang’s slack defending that played a part in Matondo’s eventual equaliser.
Despite this, the South Korean international shouldn’t be hounded for one lapse of concentration, especially given his limited experience in high-pressure Glasgow Derby matches.
In his column for The Daily Record, former Celtic icon Chris Sutton has claimed that veteran winger James Forrest may have been a wiser choice to help see out the latter stages of our contest at Ibrox.
He stated: “Celtic can’t afford a repeat of the naivety shown for the injury time equaliser. Listen, it was a sensational strike from Rabbi Matondo. But does Yang not watch Scottish football on the television?
“The winger did exactly the same thing against Hibs last week, yet Yang showed him inside to his stronger foot. It was an incredible hit, but it was asking for trouble. It was the same on the other side. Nicolas Kuhn kept cutting inside, but he was up against a right-footed left back in Dujon Sterling.
“The one time he got down the outside, his cross resulted in the penalty. These are things they should have been aware of beforehand. You could nip pick with that second period, and maybe James Forrest could have been a better option than Yang.
“But the other changes Rodgers made had a positive impact with Adam Idah and Paulo Bernardo doing well when they came on.”
Truthfully, it is hard to know if Forrest would’ve defended with more vigour than Yang for Matondo’s goal, though his experience over the years may have came in handy on Glasgow’s southside.
Nevertheless, we move on, and St Mirren will present another stiff test of our title-winning credentials on Saturday afternoon at Paradise.