Silence At Paradise As Naderi Sinks Celtic Again

Silence. Then boos. That was the sound of Celtic Park on Sunday.

Rangers beat Celtic 1-0 in the Scottish Premiership on 20 September. It was their second win over the Hoops in eight days. Ryan Naderi scored the only goal. It was enough.

One goal, total control

Naderi struck in the 33rd minute. No away fans were allowed in. So the goal was met with fists banging on the Rangers bench and little else.

The numbers tell the story. Rangers had 15 shots. Celtic had five. Rangers had eight on target. Celtic had one. At half-time Celtic had not managed a single shot on target. Rangers were winning the battles all over the pitch, and they won 67.6 per cent of the aerial duels before the break.

Celtic had more of the ball, 55 per cent of it. They did nothing with it.

Rangers could have won by more. BBC Sport said the margin flattered Celtic.

Pressure piles on O'Neill

This was a third straight defeat for Martin O'Neill's side. It followed the 3-0 Premier Sports Cup loss at Ibrox and the Europa League home defeat to Ferencváros.

It was also Celtic's first league defeat of the season. The gap at the top is down to two points going into the international break.

Derek McInnes kept his cool. "Just three points," he said. "Three points closer to Celtic." He is the first Rangers boss since Graeme Souness in 1986 to win his first two games against Celtic.

The boos at full-time said it all. Two derbies. Two defeats. Celtic fans deserve far better than this, and the break cannot come soon enough.