Martin O’Neill has maintained that Celtic remain firmly in contention for the Scottish Premiership title after battling back to secure a dramatic 2-2 draw with theRangers at Ibrox, a result that also strengthened Hearts’ position at the top of the table…
Martin O’Neill at Ibrox. theRangers 2 Celtic 2. Sunday 1st March 2026. Photograph by Vagelis Georgariou
After the dust has settled on the weekend with Hearts beating Aberdeen 1-0 at Tynecastle on Saturday and theRangers and Celtic playing out a 2-2 draw yesterday at Ibrox, the bookmakers have Hearts at clear even money favourites while both Glasgow challengers have drifted to 5/2 – a price that you’d seldom see in recent decades. Motherwell fans may fancy some of the 12/1 action that’s currently on offer for Jens Berthel Askou whose side have an upcoming fixtures against Celtic and current leaders Hearts.
Post match handbags. theRangers 2 Celtic 2. Sunday 1st March 2026. Photograph by Vagelis Georgariou
Celtic play our game-in-hand over the current top two on Wednesday night away to Aberdeen and a win at Pittodrie will see Celtic leapfrog theRangers into second place in the Scottish Premiership ahead of the Scottish Cup semi-final at Ibrox this Sunday where just under 8000 Celtic support with free the Broomloan for the first time since Beautiful Sunday in March 2018.
Yesterday at Ibrox Danny Rohl’s side had surged into a commanding two-goal lead before the break, capitalising on swift counter-attacks finished by Youssef Chermiti.
Kieran Tierney celebrates after scoring at Ibrox.theRangers v Celtic. 1st March 2026. Photograph by Vagelis Georgariou
However, the Hoops mounted an impressive response after the interval. Kieran Tierney sparked the fightback with a superb header before substitute Reo Hatate rescued a point in stoppage time.
The midfielder converted at the third attempt after Jack Butland had initially saved his penalty and denied him again from the rebound.
Reo Hatate scores at Ibrox. theRangers 2 Celtic 2. Sunday 1st March 2026. Photograph by Vagelis Georgariou
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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.
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Speaking post-match on his 74 year-old birthday, O’Neill said: “I think today’s result – if you belong to Hearts – then you’ll think it’s a great result for them. But even so, we’re not out of it. If the game had ended at half-time, with our performance, we’d have thought ‘we’re a million miles off it’.”
“Now by the end of the game, the manner that we played, particularly here at Ibrox, 2-0 down, we fight back. There’s still plenty of heart and desire to try and retain the championship. It’s just been a tough old struggle this season. We just have to try and dig it out.”
Reo Hatate of Celtic celebrates scoring his team’s second goal during the Scottish Premiership match between theRangers and Celtic at Ibrox on March 01, 2026 (Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty Images)
O’Neill said his players demonstrated resilience to salvage a draw and suggested Celtic had done enough to come away from the Glasgow Derby clash with all three points.
He said: “It was lovely to come out and get something. We could easily have won it in the end.”
“Luke [McCowan] says he maybe should have scored. I haven’t seen very many things back. First-half, totally Rangers. Second half, totally us.”
Jack Butland of theRangers looks dejected during the Scottish Premiership match between theRangers and Celtic at Ibrox on March 01, 2026.. (Photo by WM Sport Media/Getty Images)
“I think if you had told me at half-time that we would get out of this with something, it looked a long, long way off. But when we finally scored the penalty, at about the sixth attempt, Hatate is racing out to put the ball back on the halfway line.”
“There is a bit of frustration but I think we are still in the title race when it looked pretty daunting at half-time.”
Conor Spence
Celtic in the Thirties by Matt Corr. Click on image to order
