Naderi Goal Gives Rangers Second Derby Win Over Celtic in One Week

Rangers earned a second Old Firm derby win in a week to cut the gap to Scottish Premiership leaders Celtic to two points and deepen the gloom at their city rivals.
With no away supporters in the ground, striker Ryan Naderi silenced Celtic Park before the break with his first goal in this fixture to stretch Rangers’ winning run to six consecutive matches.
It also means Derek McInnes is the first Rangers manager to win his opening two derbies since Graeme Souness in 1986.
But his counterpart Martin O’Neill is left with questions to answer and solutions to find following a third damaging defeat in seven days.
Celtic had to chase this game for an hour after Naderi pounced from close range to covert once Kim Min-su’s powerful effort was parried out by Viljami Sinisalo.
But for the width of the Finn’s right-hand post, Rangers would have doubled their advantage almost immediately. Djeidi Gassama’s clever chip came off the upright, keeping the game on a knife-edge.
Watch: Scott Brown & Andy Halliday discuss Old Firm game on YouTube
Prior to going behind, Kieran Tierney – playing in a more advanced midfield role – skimmed the top of Ivor Pandur’s bar and the Croat later superbly kept out Colby Donovan’s header which seemed destined to equalise.
In front of a hugely frustrated home support, Celtic didn’t seem to know how to break Rangers down and were relieved when a stunning shot into the top corner by Olwethu Makhanya was ruled out for hand-ball.
Celtic never really looked like extending their run of Premiership wins to seven and in the end went down rather meekly to their first league defeat since Dundee United beat them at Tannadice in March.
It’s also their third consecutive defeat, after the League Cup loss at Ibrox last Sunday was followed by a Europa League reverse against Ferencvaros on Thursday.
They still top the table but there’s likely to be some soul-searching in the three-week international break given the marked downturn in fortunes since their Champions League exit in Linz.