ON A night when Paul Gascoigne and Pierre van Hooydonk each made a mess of penalty kicks, and most other players managed to miss at some point when scoring would have been easier, Rangers were left with Brian Laudrup's perfectly struck first half goal to take them back to the top of the Scottish Premier Division.
Laudrup's goal after only eight minutes was a prime example of a man really enjoying a totally unexpected gift. Celtic defender Brian O'Neil had the ball at his feet midway inside his own half and was examining options for the forward pass when he suddenly slipped and landed on his rear.
Laudrup took the ball away on his own, reached the edge of the penalty area and drilled the ball low to the right of Kerr. It was a terrific finish, taking full advantage of O'Neil's misfortune.
Rangers seemed to require that kind of intervention from Laudrup, as the manager Walter Smith had decided to play without a single recognised striker. With Laudrup capable of foraging voraciously on his own, Rangers' dependence on the quick break from defence was both understandable and vindicated by that goal.
Celtic, despite the great bulk of possession and much time spent in enemy territory, for long periods found difficulty in creating space where it mattered. They were not helped by Di Canio's insistence on playing to the crowd appealing to the referee with mock hurt at every turn. It was no surprise when he was cautioned for his antics.
The Italian was found wanting when an error by the visitors allowed him a free run down the inside left channel and he had not the strength or the pace to capitalise. McInnes was cautioned for his lunging challenge on Di Canio, but the tackle was unnecessary.
Van Hooydonk's ferocious free kicks were always a worry and Goram had to leap high to his right to save one net bound effort, but Laudrup still looked the most menacing man on the field, forcing Kerr to block after he had intercepted a slack pass from Boyd.
Rangers were in front at a time when Gascoigne had been the quietest man in the game, almost anonymous on a night when the fire seemed to have been doused.
Celtic knew they were having a bad time midway through the second half, when another golden opportunity fell to Wieghorst, who had earlier blasted over from close range. This time he hit Goram with the ball after Cadete and Grant had finally carved a great hole in Rangers' defence on the right side of the penalty area.
Things began to look much better, however, when they survived a penalty kick just a few minutes later. Kerr brought down Laudrup as the Dane knocked the ball out towards the by line, but Gascoigne's kick was weakly struck and close to the young goalkeeper, who flopped to his left to smother the ball.
Butt Van Hooydonk, with 11 goals this season, will find it hard to believe he didn't salvage equality for Celtic from the spot with five minutes left.
Referee Dallas awarded the penalty when Richard Gough challenged Simon Donnelly but the cheers of the Celtic fans turned to tears as Go ram pulled himself to his right to touch the ball away.
By then, McKinlay had replaced O'Neill and Cadete had taken over from Thom. McKinlay's first two crosses were full of menace, but found no takers. It seemed, for most of the time, that Celtic could score only from such a ploy, for they were generally bereft of ideas in how to out think the visiting defence.
. Terry Palmer, the 23 year old centre half who starts his 100th league match for UCD against Bohemians tonight, has been chosen as the Opel/SWAI October player of the month after a string of outstanding displays at the heart of the students' back four.
UCD won all four matches in October, and the partnership between Palmer and Tony McDonnell was the rock around which their impregnable defence was built.
A product of UCD's renowned soccer scholarship programme, Palmer made his debut for College in January 1991. He became a regular two seasons later, a constant feature of their promotion year two seasons ago, and is currently on a run of 45 consecutive league and Cup games for UCD.
