Rangers retained the CIS Insurance Cup in controversial fashion after Celtic
were wrongly denied a second-half equaliser.
John Hartson had been the man wronged but the Welshman had only himself to
blame when he put a last-minute penalty wide.
Martin O'Neill' side's gloom was further compounded by a suspected broken
wrist suffered by Chris Sutton and they finished with 10 men after Neil Lennon
was sent off.
Claudio Caniggia and Peter Lovenkrands had given Rangers a 2-0 half-time lead
but it was all Celtic after Henrik Larsson pulled one back shortly after the
restart.
There had been speculation beforehand as to whether O'Neill would rest players
with Thursday night's UEFA Cup quarter-final second leg at Liverpool in mind.
Alan Thompson and Sutton had both been fitness doubts and Larsson had only
just come back from a broken jaw.
But Old Firm cup finals cannot be treated lightly and all three started with
captain Paul Lambert replacing Stilian Petrov in midfield.
For Rangers it was their second successive joust at Celtic in the space of
eight days and manager Alex McLeish made three changes following last week's
league under-performance at Parkhead.
All three were of an attacking nature with Caniggia, Michael Mols and the
fit-again Ronald de Boer all coming in at the expense of Maurice Ross, Neil
McCann and Shota Arveladze.
But it was the continuation of the Lovenkrands Old Firm success story that was
to prove significant in the end.
The Dane had netted five Old Firm goals last season, including a last-minute
Scottish Cup final winner, but before this game had made little impact in the
current campaign.
Shortage of fitness had been a factor but it was Johan Mjallby who appeared to
be suffering from that as Lovenkrands repeatedly motored past him down the
left.
The warning had been there early on when Robert Douglas came off his line to
meet the Dane as he chased a through-ball from Jerome Bonnissel. The out-paced
defender this time was Bobo Balde and it needed Joos Valgaeren to hack away from
under the crossbar to save his side.
Caniggia would certainly have scored had he not done so but that was exactly
what he did in the 23rd minute after de Boer had sent Lovenkrands clear in the
box, with Mjallby nowhere.
This time Douglas was able to deflect the ball way from goal and Mols was
unable to make a connection as he flew in. But Caniggia, the veteran whose
contract is due to expire in the summer, calmly slotted past last man Balde to
open the scoring.
And when Mols produced a trademark turn in the 35th minute with Balde at his
back Mjallby's lack of sharpness cost his side again as Lovenkrands found
himself with sufficient time and space in the box to slot past Douglas.
Celtic had made the better start although the best early chance had been
Caniggia's when he hooked an overhead kick just wide.
Hartson had wasted a good opportunity with an air shot after Jamie Smith had
picked him out in the box and Larsson did come mighty close with a curled
free-kick with the score at 2-0.
After the restart, Larsson fired a passable opportunity wide following good
work from Hartson and the Welshman was just over with an effort from the edge of
the box.
But in the 56th minute Larsson headed Celtic back into the game with a
close-range, near-post effort from a Thompson corner, with the ball going in off
goalkeeper Stefan Klos' face. The German had been given no time to react and it
was game on once more.
Controversy was not long in arriving when Hartson had a legitimate,
62nd-minute goal chalked off for offside by linesman David Doig.
Mikel Arteta had gifted the ball to Larsson with a terrible aberration and
after the Swede had skipped past Amoruso he played his strike partner in behind
the last defender.
Hartson converted with ease and television replays confirmed he had timed his
run perfectly.
Caniggia fired across goal and wide as Rangers tried to regain their earlier
grip on the game.
Then the Argentinian was denied by a fine save from Douglas after Arteta had
sent him into the box with Balde and Valgaeren trailing and the Scotland
goalkeeper was able to divert the eventual shot behind for a corner.
Larsson almost provided a repeat of his earlier goal as he once again won a
header from a corner on the six-yard line but Klos pulled off a sensational
tip-over.
Sutton had to be stretchered off after he was clattered in the Rangers box by
his own team-mate, Balde. Shaun Maloney came on with 10 minutes remaining and
proceeded to floor Barry Ferguson with a free-kick into the face.
Those two incidents made sure plenty of added time was inevitable and before
that Amoruso survived a strong penalty shout when he appeared to have hacked
down Larsson.
With three minutes left Lennon was sent off for strong-arming substitute Shota
Arveladze, having just been shown a first yellow for an off-the-ball incident
that saw Fernando Ricksen sent tumbling to the turf.
In the final minute Celtic were awarded a penalty when Amoruso brought down
Balde but Hartson fired the spot-kick narrowly wide to condemn his side to
defeat.
Teams
Celtic: Douglas, Mjallby (Petrov 88), Balde, Valgaeren,
Smith (Sylla 66), Lennon, Lambert, Sutton (Maloney 80),
Thompson, Larsson, Hartson.
Subs Not Used: McNamara, Marshall.
Sent Off: Lennon (88).
Booked: Thompson, Lennon.
Goals: Larsson 57.
Rangers: Klos, Ricksen, Amoruso, Moore, Bonnissel (Ross 64),
Caniggia, Arteta (Konterman 78), Ferguson,
de Boer (Arveladze 86), Mols, Lovenkrands.
Subs Not Used: McCann, McGregor.
Booked: Amoruso.
Goals: Caniggia 23, Lovenkrands 35.
Att: 52,000
Ref: K Clark (Scotland).
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