Celtic slumped to a 2-0 defeat at Falkirk on Sunday to ramp up the scrutiny on manager Martin O’Neill after a run of three wins in 10 games. The Scottish champions had the chance to extend their lead at the top of the table to seven points, but never recovered from conceding a third-minute opener to Ethan Ross.
Scott Tanser slammed in a second before half-time and the Bairns even had a third goal ruled out by a VAR review for handball against Jacob Murrell. The majority of Celtic’s struggles this season have come in European competition as they crashed out the Champions League qualifiers and have lost all three Europa League group matches.
But sloppy defensive errors and a lack of a clear tactical plan is beginning to cost them domestically as well. Rangers could now close to within one point of their Old Firm rivals should they win a game in hand.
“We’re still in a decent position at this minute,” said a defiant O’Neill. “I keep out the noise at the end of it all. A tough one to take because I know we conceded two goals but we could have scored six or seven dead easily.”
Falkirk had not beaten Celtic since March 2007, but were well worthy of a fourth consecutive victory to move up to fourth in the table. O’Neill recalled Cameron Carter-Vickers to the heart of his defence, but that decision backfired when the American international presented the ball to Ross to slam home the opening goal.
Former Celtic goalkeeper Scott Bain was inspired in the Falkirk goal to deny Haissem Hassan and Camilo Duran, while the later also struck the post as the visitors pressed for an equaliser. But Celtic’s leaky defence was exposed once more on 38 minutes when Tanser raced forward from left-back and drilled low into the corner.
O’Neill, 74, twice rode to Celtic’s rescue last season to take interim charge, 20 years after his first spell at the club ended. The Northern Irishman then signed a one-year deal in June.
Yet murmurs of discontent among the club’s fanbase have increased in recent weeks with many now calling for a change. “I’ve managed this team now for about a year, give or take a month or two, and I’ve managed before,” added O’Neill. “We’re still top of the league. We came from a mile behind last year to win the league. A mile behind on two or three occasions as well too.”
On Saturday, Ryan Naderi’s dramatic late strike broke down Aberdeen’s stubborn resistance to earn Rangers a place in the Premier Sports Cup final.
Aberdeen restricted Rangers to one shot on target in a low quality first half, but Derek McInnes’s side picked up the pace after the break. Aberdeen survived relentless pressure at times but in the 83rd minute Naderi redirected a strike from James Penrice into the net for his eighth goal of the season to seal a 1-0 win at Hampden Park.
The 23-year-old Naderi later tried to share the glory, saying: “It feels amazing. I’m happy, of course, happy to be the one who scores the goals, but happy for the team. I think we deserved it. We believed we could score right up until the very end and we did, and I think it’s a deserved win.”
It was another close-range strike from Naderi and he joked about this proficiency from distance. The Germany-born Czechia international said: “I’ve tried to shoot twice today from outside of the box and it didn’t go well. So I went back inside the box. Maybe I should just stick to the easy ones! As I said, I’m just happy how it is right now and I’m going to try to stick to it.”
Rangers will face the winners of Sunday’s semi-final between Hearts and Hibernian in the final.
