Old Firm: Rangers boss Walter Smith slates Celtic protest on referee standards

WALTER Smith has accused Celtic of placing referee Dougie McDonald under intolerable pressure with their protests over the standard of match officials in the build-up to yesterday's Old Firm showdown at Ibrox.

Maurice Edu's stoppage time goal secured a 1-0 win for Rangers to send them ten points clear of Celtic at the top of the table with a game in hand. It leaves Smith firmly in sight of his ninth title as Rangers manager but he was more concerned with the pre-match controversy than the post-match consequences when he faced the media afterwards.

Smith was scathing in his assessment of last week's furore when an unnamed "club source" leaked Celtic's concerns over refereeing decisions against them this season, including in the two previous Old Firm games, to BBC Scotland. It provoked a reaction from SFA president George Peat and a row which dominated the build-up to the fixture.

Inevitably, yesterday's match did not pass without contentious incident for referee McDonald who sent off Celtic captain Scott Brown for an off the ball clash with Kyle Lafferty. Celtic lodged an appeal against the dismissal within hours of yesterday's final whistle.

But Smith praised McDonald's performance and questioned the courage and motives of the source of Celtic's complaint last week.

"It would have been nice if whoever complained, or wanted to complain, had come out of the closet to do it, rather than in an anonymous manner," said Smith.

"I thought the referee handled the game very well today. It was always going to be awkward for him. It was a totally unfair circumstance he was placed in this week and I thought he coped with it really well."

Asked for his view of Brown's dismissal, Smith replied: "I will need to do an Arsene Wenger, I'm afraid. I didn't see either the red card or our disallowed goal (from Edu in the first half] because I was making my way down from the stand when one of them happened and heading the other way when the other one happened."

Smith celebrated wildly when Edu scored yesterday, belying his 62 years as he sprinted out of the Rangers technical area and onto the pitch. It was an indication of how telling a blow this was in a title race which is now surely a lost cause for Celtic.

But Smith is refusing to take anything for granted as he looks to guide Rangers safely through their remaining 12 league games of a campaign which also sees them in the final of the Co-operative Insurance Cup and quarter-finals of the Active Nation Scottish Cup.

"When you start making assumptions like that, you disregard the other teams you are playing against," he said. "I always feel the other teams don't get enough credit for how hard they make it against Rangers and Celtic. So I find it difficult to make any assumptions about the title race.

"You will never find me claiming things like that, because of the respect I have for the other managers in Scottish football. We just have to keep doing what we are doing but this was obviously a step forward for us."

Smith has now won 26 Old Firm matches, equalling the figure achieved by Jock Stein and Scot Symon. Now only Old Firm icons Bill Struth and Willie Maley better Smith's tally of wins in the fixture. Yet it was a victory he conceded he did not see coming yesterday.

"I didn't think we were going to get a goal," he said. "We struggled a bit in the first half, when our possession of the ball wasn't good, but I thought we played very well in the second half. We got our full-backs involved more and did far better. But when it gets to that stage of the game, you don't think you are going to get the goal.

"Celtic have got good forward players and we had to deal with that. But while their defence has been the subject of criticism this season, I thought Celtic also defended really well today, especially when we had a little bit more of the ball in the second half."

Smith had praise for his goalkeeper Allan McGregor, whose appearance was in doubt as a result of his latest off-the-field problems last week, and even advised him to take a leaf out of his Celtic counterpart Artur Boruc's book.

"I felt both goalkeepers played very well today," he said. "Allan McGregor had a terrific save from Robbie Keane in the first half and I thought Artur Boruc's save from Sasa Papac late in the game was fantastic. Both lads have been known to make a few headlines, but Artur seems to have calmed down a wee bit in comparison to our own goalie."

Meanwhile goalscorer Edu will look to secure his place in the USA's World Cup squad this week but the Rangers midfielder says it may be some time before anything eclipses the joy he experienced at Ibrox yesterday.

Following a season plagued by injury, Edu was forced into action after 26 minutes of the Old Firm showdown when Lee McCulloch limped off with a shin problem which will keep him out of the Scotland squad for Wednesday's match against the Czech Republic.

Edu has his own international assignment in midweek as part of the USA squad who face the Netherlands in Amsterdam as part of their build-up to this summer's World Cup finals in South Africa.

His return to action with Rangers has been well timed with his stoppage time winner for the SPL champions against Celtic yesterday setting the seal on an impressive display.

"This is the best feeling I've had in my career so far," he said. "I've had a rough time this season with one thing and another, but you have to make sure you don't get too down when things aren't going so well.

"It is an unbelievable feeling to score the winning goal in an Old Firm game. When we clinched the title at Tannadice last season, it was a pretty amazing day, but right now this feels even better for me.

"The goal seemed to happen in slow motion. Artur Boruc kept blocking the ball and I was just standing there watching and waiting. It finally fell to me and I tapped it in. It wasn't the trickiest goal ever but I'll take it."