Rangers: Live by the scoreless draw …

By: Ian Rose | May 4th, 2008

You know the rest.

Just as Rangers held firm in defense and offered little in attack in Thursday’s penalty UEFA Cup semifinal win over Fiorentina, they were similarly held scoreless by Hibernian today. A fantastic defensive effort from Hibs kept all but two of Rangers’ eleven shots from even approaching Andrew McNeil’s goal, and while Hibs had some great possession, they were fairly toothless themselves in attack, only managing three shots on goal. These were handled well by backup Rangers keeper Neil Alexander. Say what you will about Rangers’ strategy, but Allan McGregor’s shoes were very large ones to fill, and Alexander has done a great job.

We’re getting into what Sir Alex would refer to as squeeky bum time. Celtic now have a 7-point lead over Rangers, still with three games in hand. With their victory over Motherwell on Saturday, thanks to a late Samaras goal, they made up two points this weekend, and widened their goal difference lead. The title is still in Rangers’ hands to lose, as they can clinch it by winning all their remaining matches, or with a mistake from Celtic. Still, things looked so much better three weeks ago for the Blue end of Glasgow. A European final is a great achievement for them, but a third straight Celtic championship would take a lot of the polish off of it, and the room for error is now incredibly small.

Celtic have just two matches left: a home match with the obviously troublesome Hibees, and a trip to Dundee to face United. Both Hibs and United need any points they can get, locked in a battle for UEFA Cup qualification with Motherwell. ‘Well, on the other hand, is the team most likely to give the Hoops the help they need to win the title. They play Rangers twice in eleven days, with the UEFA Cup final and another league match for Rangers sandwiched between. No matter which side of the Old Firm fence you’re on (or if you have no preference), it continues to be a hell of a run in.