This game always sticks in my head. Over 13 years later I still remember it very clearly. I had been at a Primary 7 school disco and had to wait on a lift home.
CELTIC
Kerr
Boyd
O'Neil
McNamara
Stubbs
Grant
Di Canio
Wieghorst
Van Hooijdonk
Thom
Donnelly
RANGERS
Goram
Cleland
Robertson
Gough
Petric
Bjorklund
Moore
Gascoigne
McInnes
Albertz
Laudrup
I made it into the house with the game barely 5 minutes old. No sooner had I sat down, got my coat off and Laudrup scored to make it 1-0. I remember O'Neil slipping and Laudrup sprinting clear to finish with aplomb. What a start.
As you can see from the Rangers line up it was hardly a full strength team we had available. McInnes and Moore in the midfield were not formidable in the way that Durrant, Ferguson or McCall would have been and Laudrup, as God-like as he could be, was grossly out of position as the sole striker.
This game of course, went onto be a one of the most action packed games of the 90's. Celtc knocked on the door countless times but as ever during this period, Rangers held firm, safe in the knowledge that we had the goal and we could comfortably soak up any pressure Celtc exterted.
Goram, Gough and Laudrup were absolutely colossal that night and dragged us kicking and screaming to victory. The Goalie in particular with a world class save from a Van Hooijdonk free kick, a magnificent claw away from a Donnelly drive and Gough with a trademark last ditch tackle on Wieghorst.
We were awarded a penalty with 20 minutes to go which Gascoigne was expected to dispatch with minimum fuss past rookie Celtc goalkeeper Stewart Kerr. Kerr saved (or rather Gascoigne missed) and and we were a magnificent save away from rueing that miss when Celtic gained a penalty of their own later in the game.
Van Hooijdonk was widely expected to pull the game level but for a tremendous save from The Goalie (and a few choice words in the immediate aftermath!).
Sandwiched between these penalties who can forget Peter Van Vossen's howler of an open goal miss? Still we clung on to grind out the win.
Once again, we had robbed them in 'their ain midden' and all 3 points were heading to Govan and pole position was regained in the run in to 9 in a row.
This game was crucially important for me in my development as a Rangers fan. I seen what it was like to have half a team on the park and still win against the odds. World class players and top drawer Rangers fighting together tooth and nail for the cause. This is one of the the defining moments of that season for me and I believe this gave us a massive shot of confidence which we took into the remaining 6 months to clinch the much coveted nine championships in a row.
You can see the same togetherness in the current Rangers squad and while we don't have a Gascoigne, Laudrup or Albertz this time around we'll still run through brick walls for each other and in Boyd and Miller, we have two strikers bang in form and hungry for goals.
Thank God the disco didn't start later.
ONLY ONE AMORUSO |
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