Celtic 3, Rangers 0

CLEARLY, with their manager, Walter Smith, out of town most of last

week in pursuit of Paul Gascoigne, Rangers' players obviously thought

holiday time had arrived and, in fact, they played like tourists in an

environment for the first time as they wandered around Hampden Park

while Celtic ran away with the points.

Of course, with a seventh consecutive championship safely back in the

Ibrox trophy room, Rangers had no real need of more points, but pride

alone should have stirred them to greater effort than they produced

yesterday.

Billy Thomson didn't so much give up as capitulate when he was

dismissed after having fouled Brian McLaughlin nine minutes from time.

The Celtic winger was about to round the keeper when he was hauled down,

leaving referee Les Mottram with only one choice.

Celtic, of course, have much to play for yet and their comfortable

triumph in the season's final Old Firm game will strengthen their

confidence for the Tennents Scottish Cup final against Airdrie on May

27, when the atmosphere at Hampden will be much more charged than it was

yesterday.

Only 31,025 supporters showed up, which suggested Rangers' fans also

had decided the season was over, while a number of Celtic's followers

will be conserving energies and money for the cup final.

Those who stayed away missed little in the first half with Celtic

reserving their best for the second period, during which they scored all

of their goals, with Pierre van Hooydonk leading the way. His goal was

his seventh for Celtic and he was especially pleased, since he was

making his Old Firm debut.

The two other goals came courtesy of an own goal by Craig Moore and a

25-yard free kick from Rudi Vata.

It was a pass from McStay early in the match which first brought

Celtic's followers to their feet, and his precise delivery found Simon

Donnelly, who touched shoulders with Alan McLaren. The Rangers man went

down, leaving the young striker clear inside the box. However, his shot

was poor and Thomson had only to drop down and smother the ball.

Pat Bonner's task in grasping Mark Hateley's swerving shot from just

outside the penalty box was equally straightforward, but the ease with

which the striker had escaped Brian O'Neil was alarming.

Collins might have found the net first after he had intercepted a

poorly directed pass by Alex Cleland, but the midfield player, who ran

unchallenged to the edge of the box, shot a yard wide.

John Brown, who body-checked McLaughlin and was booked, injured

himself in the process and hobbled off, with Neil Murray pressed into

action after 27 minutes.

O'Neil became the second player booked after he had tripped Laudrup

and then the Dane had to suffer a degree of ridicule after he had tried

a back-heel pass which went wrong. Celtic's fans jeered him roundly, but

he took it all in good humour, bowing to them almost apologetically.

Such banter is unusual in Old Firm matches, but it added to the

peculiarity of the atmosphere of this one.

However, it became much more like the real thing five minutes into the

second half when Celtic scored a splendid goal, engineered by the

diminutive McLaughlin, who had darted through Rangers' defence on the

left. The winger looked up and rolled the ball across the edge of the

18-yard line to van Hooydonk, who beat Thomson to his right with a low

shot.

Suddenly Celtic's fans were ecstatic and 10 minutes later they were

lifted to even greater heights of joy when Craig Moore hooked the ball

into his own net. Simon Donnelly had been released on the right by

McStay and when his cross curled into Rangers' box, the unfortunate full

back, whose balance was all wrong, tried to clear but turned the ball

into Thomson's net.

Five minutes later Donnelly limped off and Willie Falconer took over,

and soon afterwards Rangers took off Ian Ferguson and sent on

Mikhailichenko. Celtic's second substitution was made 15 minutes from

the end when Phil O'Donnell relieved van Hooydonk.

Rangers may have felt two goals was to be the extent of their

punishment but Rudi Vata added to the misery by scoring from a direct

free kick 25 yards from goal nine minutes from the end. Cleland had

handled the ball and Vata surprised everyone, including himself, by

beating Thomson with a low shot which crept in low at the keeper's

left-hand post.

Thomson was probably relieved when the referee sent him off for his

foul on McLaughlin.