Referee John Beaton warms up prior to the Scottish Premiership match between Rangers and Celtic at Ibrox on March 01, 2026. (Photo by WM Sport Media/Getty Images)
Celtic had THREE other penalty claims ignored by the match referee and VAR yesterday afternoon including a replica of the Auston Trusty incident from last weekend. Liam Scales was pulled to the ground for the second week in a row with John Beaton and Steven McLean ignoring the incident while Sebastian Tounekti was manhandled inside the penalty area but there was nothing doing from Beaton or the VAR. Watch all three incidents in the Definitive Ratings posted this morning on The Celtic Star.
Sebastian Tounekti of Celtic celebrates his team’s second goal scored by teammate Reo Hatate (not pictured) in front of theRangers fans during the Scottish Premiership match between theRangers and Celtic at Ibrox on March 01, 2026. (Photo by WM Sport Media/Getty Images)
With the current top two having nine league matches left to play, theRangers sit six points behind leaders Hearts and hold a narrow two-point cushion over Celtic who have that game in hand at Pittodrie. Motherwell like Celtic have TEN games still to play and they will catch up next weekend with an away match at Dundee, while Celtic and theRangers focus on the Scottish Cup and Hearts enjoy a weekend off.
If Celtic win our game in hand – a challenging away fixture against Aberdeen at Pittodrie on Wednesday evening – and Motherwell continue with their impressive form by picking up the three points at Dens Park, then this time next week the table could look like this:
1. Hearts – Played 29 – 63 pts
2. Celtic – Played 29 – 58 pts
3. theRangers – Played 29 – 57 pts
4. Motherwell – Played 29 – 56 pts
Next up for Celtic in the league is Motherwell at home and the Fir Park side then play Hearts away. You could actually make a case for all four teams winning the league this season in the most exciting title race in the Scottish top division since the early 1980s when Celtic, Aberdeen and Dundee Utd all won titles.
Believe that our last 2 matches, have involved a far higher degree of showing a desire, with more commitment in gaining the required results imo?
Been far too questionable, on way to many occasions this season to date, for my liking.
Would like to think that it will transpire into our players moreso now, as it’s a requirement for ourselves until the end of this season.
We haven’t really formed the likes this season, within team selection this season really imo?
Can accept poor games within our players, but should never be a question of commitment to our goals within our club?
Yesterday showed ourselves an element that’s been badly lacking this season.
Even so, we left ourselves plenty of room for improvement, where 90 minutes displays are still required, especially with the goal differences involved.
Let’s face it —-The players who graced the field at Ibrox yesterday would never even get a game in MON’s teams during his first stint as Celtic manager . Yesterday , MON & Co. picked what they thought was the best eleven from a shower of very ordinary players :-
Junior Adamu—-Impressed for half-an hour in Europe—So was he good enough to throw into the Ibrox cauldren—-Sorry , I don’t think so ?
Oxlaide-Chamberpot—–A great player in his day but that was a long time ago—-Should never have been anywhere near Ibrox .
Murray——Totally untested , at this level —-What a gamble ?
Nygren —–Disappears for most of every game—–No help to the team and his team-mates—-Certainly NOT a mid-fied power house ?
Sinsalo—–A real gamble in this torrid atmosphere but did O.K.
Maeda——A lower league player with some speed . Ball control attrocious .
Martin if you win the League with this lot ; you’ll certainly be cannonised . Good Luck !!!!!