Lucky 13 for Celts as Rangers suffer
a Mair
Thirteen games into the SPL season and Celtic find themselves 13 points
clear at the top of the table.
Nor is it fierce rivals Rangers sitting in second place but Hearts with
the Ibrox side languishing 15 points behind in the title race.
While Hearts midfielder Paul Hartley appears to have conceded the title
following their agonising defeat to Celtic on Saturday the ever-optimistic
Barry Ferguson believes Rangers can still win the championship.
Hartley said: “It’s a big gap now. We will not give up but
it’s going to be extremely difficult. We’d have to go on a
magnificent run to have any chance but we will keep trying.”
Rangers captain Ferguson though angrily refused to give up hope despite
their remarkable defeat to bottom club Dundee United.
He fumed: “I’m disappointed, gutted, devastated but it’s
not over yet. I’m not giving up.
“I hope there is togetherness — there had better be because
we are 15 points behind Celtic and we are behind Hearts.”
Rangers will have to turn things around fast though. They have already
lost four games this season — they lost seven in the whole of last
season during which they recorded the worst run in the club’s history.
Conversely though despite Celtic’s momentous lead, they will not
be counting their chickens just yet.
In 2005 the Hoops went five points clear with just four games left following
a 2-1 win at Ibrox but still conspired to relinquish the title.
With 25 games left to play this campaign Gordon Strachan will be taking
nothing for granted.
The Hoops needed an injury-time own-goal from Hearts keeper Craig Gordon
to take maximum points on Saturday, after Jiri Jarosik’s goal on
86 minutes had cancelled out Andrius Velicka’s opener.
It was a similar story at Tannadice where late goals from Garry Kenneth
and Lee Mair gave Dundee United their first home win of the season when
Rangers had looked to be headed for victory courtesy of Charlie Adams’
strike early in the second-half.
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