Celtic comfortably reached the CIS Cup Semi-Final with a straight-forward 2-0 win over Rangers at Celtic Park. The result saw Gordon Strachan win his first old-firm match as manager which puts Celtic in a great position to pick up the first piece of silverware of the season. The scoreline heaps more pressure on Alex McLeish as his team's current form is abysmal having failed to win in nine out of their last eleven games.

An unchanged Celtic team from the weekends' defeat of Falkirk took to the field and started in a confident manner. Aiden McGeady who kept his place despite the availability of Alan Thompson was the first to test Stephan Klos in goal. His drive was easily dealt with by the German stopper. He also just failed to pick out John Hartson with a cross to the back post.

The initial stages were tight as Rangers pressing game was disrupting Celtic's flow. It took a piece of individual brilliance to brake the deadlock. Shaun Maloney picked the ball up just inside the Rangers half following a neat pass from Petrov. After superbly stepping inside two Rangers players he fired a superb strike from over 30 yards which sored into Klos' top right corner. Klos' who was playing only his second game in many months looked slightly out of position as Maloney let fly. It was a magnificent goal and one of the best scored in an old-firm game.

In a relatively poor first half showing from Rangers, their only opportunities were from long-range efforts. Namouchi, Ferguson and Ricksen all had efforts on goal but none seriouly troubled Artur Boruc.

McLeish tried to change the flow of the game by replacing Oliver Bernard with Lovenkrands at the break and changed to a more offensive formation. And McGeady almost presented Rangers with an equaliser almost immediately with a slack backpass that Balde failed to control. But Dado Prso sliced the ball wide from sixteen yards under pressure from the big defender.

Although Celtic looked comfortable, their task was made so much easier by the stupidy of Rangers defender Kyrgiakos. The Greek International was shown a second yellow card for petulance as he appeared to sarcastically applaud the assistant referee for making the decision. Television footage shown that he was infact applauding the Celtic fans but nevertheless an act of sheer stupidy cost his team any chance of getting back into the game.

From this point on Celtic could have scored a hat-full and were very unlucky not to double their lead when Stilian Petrov put the ball in the back of the net. It was a fine finish on the half-volley but the perfectly legitimate goal wasl chopped off for offside despite Maloney being onside in the build-up.

Hartson then missed a glorious opportunity to finish the tie as he badly missed from six yards. After nice build-up play the big Welsh striker will be the only person who knows what he attempted as dinked the ball into the Celtic crowd.

Shunsuke Nakamura who proved alot of Celtic fans wrong with his physical display in midfield was next to have an attempt. The Japanese star forced a fine save from Klos as the pressure mounted on the Rangers goal.
But the German goalkeeper completed a nightmare night for McLeish and his team as he scored an own goal under immense pressure from Balde. The keeper who refused to play reserve team football looked rusty all night and his error eased Celtic's passage to the next round.

Rangers came close to a undeserved consolation late on when Prso headed on to the crossbar but Celtic easily saw out the victory and continue their great form.

Neil Lennon was absolutely immense and was my man of the match. Stephen McManus is also worth a mention as he is developing in a fantastic defender week by week. Shaun Maloney also put in a great performance the terrific goal capped his fine performance. But it was a great team performance and it appeared that the Celtic players wanted it more than their Rangers' counter-parts.

The result was never in doubt and it was easy to see why Rangers have only recorded one win at Celtic Park in five long years. Rangers three substitues also highlighted their problems as the lack of quality of their reserves was bordering on embarrassment for all concerned. Peter Lovenkrands, Pierre Fanfan and Francis Jeffers were truely awful and were even applauded on too the field by some sections of the Celtic support.

McLeish's chances of being Rangers manager in the long term look highly unlikely. I strongly believe he will survive to next Saturday but a defeat will put his side a massive 15 points behind both Celtic and Hearts and will put on end to his eventful tenure as Rangers boss.


Celtic: (4-4-2)

Boruc

Telfer Balde McManus Camara

Nakamura Lennon Petrov McGeady (Thompson77)

Hartson Maloney

Subs Not Used: Marshall, Varga, Virgo, Pearson.


Rangers: (4-4-2)

Klos

Hutton Rodriguez(Pierre-Fanfan 79) Kyrgiakos Bernard(Lovenkrands 45)

Namouchi Ferguson Ricksen Murray

Prso Thompson(Jeffers 56).

Subs Not Used: Waterreus, Alex Rae

MOTH: Neil Lennon

Att:57,183