Celtic Leaves Ibrox With A Point, But That Feels LIke An Opportunity Lost.

It feels like a defeat. That’s the mood, that’s how I feel right now. We come out of this game having been 2-0 in front and then 3-2 in front before a scandalous amount of injury time which benefited only the home club and the feeling I have is that we’ve not done enough, that today should have been better than this.

The home team is celebrating this with a lap of honour. Which in some ways is pathetic. They were absolutely outplayed for the first half.

But in the end why not? They rose from the dead today not once but twice. I take no satisfaction from the draw, because a lot has to happen between now and the end of the campaign .. but when we had them on the ropes stupid mistakes were costly. And that’s the story of the season. It’s why we are here.

Would I have taken the draw before this? Yes, of course. But 2-0 up and then with a 3-2 lead before the end, a win was the least that I expected. That was utter carelessness that cost us the win today, the same that has stalked us all season. Are we good enough to put them to the sword at Celtic Park? Yes we are, but if we’d done that job today then that game was a potential league decider and all the rest is noise.

It’s in our hands. They failed to kill us today, that’s the best that can be said about it, but I just don’t feel the sense of accomplishment that I would have before this kicked off, although at half time I thought we were almost certainly heading down the home straight in front. It just does not feel as if we took from that the deserved prize.

I actually don’t understand what the Hell happened in that second half. We backed off, we let them run the game when in the first we’d been absolutely dominant. So dominant, in fact, that I thought another goal would seal the deal.

We got the third; still we couldn’t keep them from an equaliser. They are bouncing tonight, thrilled that they got the result that keeps them alive … and I understand why because really, it’s all they’ve got. The advantage has passed to us … in a sense. But it depends on us winning all our games now and whilst we can do it the question as to whether we will is another matter entirely. They will feel fear … but we’ve made this tougher than it ever needed to be. We’ve won seven points from nine against them … and still we are not out of sight at the top of the table. That tells its own story.

I think we’ll win this. I’ve thought it for several weeks, and although I was sure that we would win today except for Beaten – more on that tomorrow – I am still pretty confident. I just don’t like throwing away a cast iron chance to put the pressure where it belongs.

And yet, for all that, I wonder if maybe we have … listen, when you’ve been 2-0 and then 3-2 up frustration at not winning is obvious. But they know they have to come to our house now and not lose, and that’s a lot harder for them to do than today was. Several natural advantages come in to play for our side … and then we’ll see.