Just as the post-mortems of Rangers’ title prospects were being written, just as Celtic were set to be declared champions again by the court of public opinion – including the most Rangers fans, you suspect – Scott Arfield tore up the script and swallowed it whole. .
Two late, late goals – and we have to stress this – turned an almost certain defeat into an impossible victory.
Arfield came off the bench and was an unrelenting threat. Even before his goals, he had chances. Even before he sickened Aberdeen and their star operators – the exceptional Connor Barron in particular – he warned them that he might find something.
It was like Houdini. The big man used to explain what he was going to do. He was going to be chained, handcuffed, thrown into a water tank sealed with reinforced steel – then he was going to break free. No one bought it at first but Harry always delivered.
No one probably believed in the idea that the Rangers were going to pull off their own act of escape, but they did. Credit Arfield’s fierce determination, credit Rangers’ self-confidence amid near-overwhelming evidence they weren’t going to save themselves.
If you’re a suffering Aberdeen fan, you’ll talk about their defense at the end. It was painful. Deeper and deeper, more desperate by the minute, more nervous by the second. They put so much money into it, but a match lasts as long as it lasts, not as long as you want it to. They’re done, but what a drama, what an amazing endgame.
We were all ready to declare this league a done deal. No points for Rangers and three more for Celtic on Wednesday would extend their lead to 12 points for the Everestian. Barring a bubonic plague descending on Lennoxtown and taking out Callum McGregor and half his teammates, it would have been impossible to see how Celtic wouldn’t win comfortably from there.
Sport is full of upheavals, that’s for sure. Buster Douglas beat Mike Tyson 40-1. Norton’s Coin won the Cheltenham Gold Cup 100-1. Leicester won the Premier League 5,000-1. The prospect of Celtic’s legs going under them and crashing to earth with victory in sight like some sort of Devon Loch football is something not even Mystic Meg could predict.
“A Celtic win on Wednesday and this league is over.” Enter Arfield. Delete, delete, delete.
‘The Rangers’ survive, just, in a thrilling night’
Michael Beale had a good old baptism as Rangers manager. A 2-1 deficit against Hibs, but the victory was dug. A 2-1 deficit against Aberdeen much later in the game, but again the character of his team settled it. Not ability, but courage. He rated the performance five out of 10 and that was fair enough.
For the sake of his heart, he hopes for something more routine in the future. His team’s mental toughness is clear but it’s not a good idea to constantly test them. Man will be old before his time if this continues.
You must have felt Jim Goodwin. Metaphorically speaking, he has spent every waking hour since Saturday getting slapped across the face with a North Sea kipper. Since the non-performance against Celtic, the Aberdeen manager has been in the spotlight normally reserved for an alleged criminal being questioned.
His response to the criticism that appeared on the back of the soft post three days ago was as emphatic as it gets. For the weekend shy, read thunderously. From powder puff, read powder keg.
Not only did they come from behind to lead, they did so by scoring two majestic goals that wouldn’t have been out of place on the glamorous grounds of Qatar last month. Not only did they elevate their stadium to a riot of joyful noises and goads, but they also appeared to have dealt a deathblow to any hope Rangers had of making some sort of fist to chase Celtic down the league.
We suspected the verbal kicking Goodwin and his players took on Saturday was going to produce a response, but maybe not that kind of response.
When Aberdeen presented their starting line-up around an hour before kick-off, it’s fair to say the reaction was stirring. Jayden Richardson was back in the squad for the first time since early November and a 2-1 loss to Livingston. ‘Disasterclass coming’ wrote one fan on social media in anticipation of what Ryan Kent could do to the young Rangers left winger. Not so.
Richardson was efficient, Barron was outstanding, Duk was terrific during his time on the pitch, which featured a sensational free kick to level him, and Leighton Clarkson put them forward with another beader.
There was effort and desperation from the Rangers as time passed, but every attack was met with resistance from the red wall. Then that wall started losing a brick or two. When Arfield leveled him, that seemed like it. A blow to Rangers’ title chances, for sure. A bad result for a team that has to win and win and win again. And then hope against hope.
We were seven minutes into added time when the winner came on, worthy of a World Cup in terms of extra minutes. The reaction was the wonder of football in the microcosm, the twin emotions of one team celebrating madly and another team collapsing in weary disbelief.
Beale was a happy man, but not ecstatically happy. Following the heckling, he praised his players for their spirit but berated them for their lack of quality. They just survived. The title is still alive, just. The thrill of the night? Just wonderful.
