Celtic - 0 Rangers - 0: Celtic and Rangers chose the final Old Firm match of the season to perform in a more pedestrian manner than is typical for these fixtures, but perhaps they hoped the subdued football would be reflected in the fans' behaviour.
Rangers' dispute with Uefa over the conduct of their supporters formed an interesting prelude to this game, but hopes that the interest of European football's governing body in sectarianism would diminish the resolve of the Ibrox club's support proved unsurprisingly optimistic.
The song book was the same and any observer of this 90 minutes would surely conclude that efforts to eliminate sectarian chanting from matches involving the Old Firm continue to prove fruitless.
Rangers fans appear to have two strands of argument as they seek to convince others their chants are not worthy of action. The first is that other clubs, most notably Celtic, have elements of their support who should also be investigated, and the other is that the songs in question are in fact folk songs, and therefore somehow non-discriminatory.
The former point is possibly valid, and the Celtic support's references to Alex McLeish as a "sad Orange bastard" yesterday add weight to such a case. However, no other Scottish club is yet attracting interest from football authorities, and when those clad in blue greet the kick-off to each half with chants about being up to their knees in Fenian blood, it is patently obvious Rangers have a problem.
"I'm always oblivious to the singing that goes on," said McLeish, "but I didn't detect anything untoward today. We had a great support here and the fans were very vociferous."
Yet in being "vociferous" here, the travelling support invoked the UVF, the UDA, the Pope and King William of Orange among others in verse.
Equally clear, though, is the desire of the Rangers players to allow McLeish to leave Ibrox in less than a month with his head held high, with qualification for the Champions League assured. Celtic may well be the better side, but Rangers are utterly determined to bridge the gap to second-placed Hearts. That deficit now sits at four points after the Tynecastle team lost their own derby, to Hibernian, on Saturday.
Rangers were marginally the better team in McLeish's final Old Firm derby, and but for Chris Burke's wastefulness in front of an open goal early in the second half would have secured victory.
Dado Prso could also have won it, but his header was brilliantly saved by Artur Boruc.
Celtic offered little in reply and were restricted to long-range opportunities. Roy Keane was withdrawn after an hour as Gordon Strachan attempted to breathe life into a stagnant display by introducing Shunsuke Nakamura, but the Japanese playmaker's trickery was in vain.
Afterwards, the Celtic captain Neil Lennon issued a plea to the club's unsettled Stilian Petrov to remain at Parkhead rather than take the heavily trodden road to the Premiership.
"I've watched a lot of Premiership games this season that have bored the pants off me," said Lennon. At least in England, though, people can concentrate on football.
Guardian Service
CELTIC: Boruc, Telfer, Varga, McManus, Wilson, Petrov, Lennon, Keane (Nakamura 61), Maloney (McGeady 81), Zurawski, Hartson (Dublin 84). Subs not used: Marshall, Thompson, Pearson, Wallace. Booked: Lennon, McManus.
RANGERS: Waterreus, Hutton, Kyrgiakos, Rodriguez, Smith, Burke (Ashikodi 90), Gavin Rae, Hemdani, Buffel, Prso, Kris Boyd (Novo 70). Subs not used: Klos, Andrews, Alex Rae, Malcolm. Booked: Kyrgiakos, Novo.
Referee: C Thomson (Scotland).
