Chermiti brace seals Derby delight for Rangers

 

Youssef Chermiti doubled his Rangers goal tally in one match during the Old Firm

Youssef Chermiti’s brace saw Rangers come from behind to defeat Celtic 3-1 at a freezing Celtic Park in a pulsating Old Firm clash.

In a true "game of two halves", and a match that was a stark contrast to the previous derby this season, which was a largely uninspiring 0-0 draw at Ibrox at the end of August, Hyun-Jun Yang gave the Parkhead side the lead midway through the first half, with one of the great Old Firm goals of recent times with a wonderful solo effort. Given the outcome of the match, however, it may well turn out to be a goal that Celtic fans would rather forget.

The opener was cancelled out shortly after half-time through Chermiti, who finished off Nicolas Raskin’s low cross after a positive move from the visitors, before the Portuguese striker gave Rangers the lead after a good run and finish.

Teenage winger Mikey Moore then sealed the win for Rangers with 20 minutes to play with a low finish past Schmeichel.

With both sides coming into this match having changed their managers in the last few months, and not in the best runs of form, it was expected that the match would have started end-to-end with multiple chances, but the first half saw the home side on the front foot, seemingly allowed to play their football by a Rangers side devoid of confidence and ideas.

Celtic were threatening from the start and saw Austen Trusty head narrowly wide from a corner, before Yang’s wonderful goal gave the hosts the lead. 

The South Korean winger turned away from Mikey Moore just inside the Rangers half before being allowed to run to the edge of the box and fire a fierce shot over Jack Butland and into the roof of the net for his second goal in three matches, and his first derby goal for Celtic.

This gave some reassurance for under-fire boss Wilfried Nancy, who had lost five of his opening seven matches in charge of Celtic before Saturday’s match. He would have been delighted with what he saw from his team in the opening 45 minutes - a stark contrast from his sentiments at full time.

The lead could easily have been doubled as Butland saved well from a low Johnny Kenny drive, and then Yang’s header, in quick succession.

Rangers had only one real opportunity of their own as Djeidi Gassama was played through on goal, but was denied well by the outstretched hand of Kasper Schmeichel as he tried to lift the ball over the onrushing Danish goalkeeper.

In truth, Danny Röhl’s men were lacklustre in the opening 45 minutes and were error-prone and devoid of confidence, with fans at half-time wondering where the inspiration was going to come from. Röhl responded by sending on Mohamed Diomande for Thelo Aasgaard at half time, the Norwegian midfielder having a particularly poor opening period, which proved to be an inspired switch.

Diomande had an immediate impact, with the second half becoming much more of an open match as Rangers started to ask more questions of their hosts.

The Gers’ critics were silenced merely five minutes into the second half, as Nico Raskin was played in to the byline by Dujon Sterling, before cutting the ball back to Chermiti – the former Everton man got in front of Anthony Ralston and couldn’t miss from inside the six-yard box.

Shortly after, Celtic would feel that they could have gone in front again but for two good saves from Butland. Firstly, a wonderful through ball by Luke McCowan was picked up by Daizen Maeda, but the former Stoke City man was off his line to save well. A free kick was then headed towards goal by Yang, but the Englishman was able to push the shot over the crossbar.

And Celtic were inexplicably left to rue missed chances when Chermiti picked the ball up on the left wing before spotting a gap to run into through the Celtic defence – Trusty coming in for particular criticism for not covering the run of the big Portuguese striker – before finishing past Schmeichel, who was unable to keep out the powerful drive. Chermiti doubled his goal tally in the Scottish Premiership for this season in the process.

Maeda then went close again with a drilled left-footed drive, before Moore wrapped up the victory for the Gers.

Gassama won back possession high up the pitch before playing a perfectly-weighted pass to the 18-year-old winger, on loan from Tottenham Hotspur, who finished like a seasoned professional, low past Schmeichel, who once again got a hand to the shot.

All of a sudden, Rangers, who had had a poor first half but were coming up against a hugely disappointing Celtic defence, were 3-1 up and could not believe their luck, showing the issues that Nancy is facing at Celtic, who did not offer a significant threat after Moore’s goal.

While Celtic interim manager Martin O’Neill managed to win seven out of his eight matches in charge before the arrival of Nancy, the Frenchman has achieved just two victories in the same period of time following his arrival in early December.

The likes of Trusty and Schmeichel at the back for Rangers would have been disappointed by their performances, Trusty displaying particularly poor positioning for the first and third goals, and Schmeichel would have felt that he could have done better for Chermiti’s second in particular, as well as Moore’s goal.

Question marks will now arise again over Nancy’s future, whether he likes it or not, and a lot of work needs to be done now to save Celtic’s season, in their fans’ eyes.

"I think we were up against it in the first half", Butland told Sky Sports at full-time. "They're a good side with good players so we were exposed, the gaffer made a few changes and it gave us a different perspective which worked in the second half.

"We've shown an ability to bounce back in difficult times this season and games against your local rivals are important regardless of league position. We were delighted to get a result today.

"I'm very pleased to score in the Derby", Player of the Match Chermiti added. "There's a lot of pressure in these games but I was pleased to help the team."

CELTIC: Schmeichel, Ralston (Forrest, 88’), Trusty, Tierney (Scales, 88’), McCowan (Araujo, 68’), Engels, McGregor, Nygren (Hatate, 74’), Yang, Maeda, Kenny (Yamada, 74’). SUBS NOT USED: Sinisalo, Donovan, Murray, Bernardo.

RANGERS: Butland, Sterling, Souttar, Fernandez, Meghoma, Barron, Raskin, Aasgaard (Diomande, 46’), Gassama (Tavernier, 86’), Moore, Chermiti (Miovski, 90+1’). SUBS NOT USED: Kelly, Nsiala, Aarons, Danilo, Curtis, Dowell. BOOKINGS: Aasgaard, Gassama, Miovski.