Small buds for Rangers and miniscule 'victory' for Celtic as damning statistic sums up Infirm derby

Russell Martin might contend there’s something in the air. He might claim that here were the first buds. That was his position afterwards, at least, following a truly awful goalless draw between the teams. It’s an understandable and not to say fair assessment. It was indeed better from him and his team.

However, it will have been a difficult argument to make in the bars around Ibrox, if he was so minded to visit any. Both teams were booed off at the end, rightly so. No one seemed very happy, which was appropriate given the context of a match that took place in the wake of the elimination of both clubs from Champions League qualifying last midweek. It's just as well this game didn't go to penalties, we'd still be there.

It was eyewash not handwash that ought to have been made available after referee Don Robertson blew his full-time whistle, after a mercifully brief period of added time. Fifty years ago this very weekend, the new ‘Premier' era kicked off in Scottish football with the establishment of the Premier Division. This was a depressing demonstration of where half a century of supposed football development gets you. It sometimes feels as if it’s as much about xG calculations these days.

In the case of Rangers, who did not produce a single shot on target, they scored 0.15. As for Celtic, it was not so much about goals and glory as a ‘victory’ by a margin of 0.02 in terms of this modern statistical metric. They amassed a mighty 0.17 on the basis of three shots on target, one of which was a Reo Hatate trundler from outside the box.

Rangers did have a goal ruled out for offside after 32 minutes from John Souttar.

The recalled skipper James Taverner floated in a free-kick and his defensive partner plunged his head towards the ball in a moment Celtic goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel will want to forget. He was rather fortunate to be allowed to consign it to the back of his memory after replays showed Souttar moving a fraction too early.

It didn’t count and Schmeichel’s failure to deal with the ball into his goalmouth didn’t matter. The Rangers fans relished a minute or so of delight nonetheless before it was chalked off.

Banners at both ends

They have, after all, experienced such a rush of delight only very sparingly since the league season kicked off against Motherwell. Indeed, they’ve still scored only three league goals under Martin, one of which was a penalty. It’s reached the point where fans are feasting on moments of short-lived ecstasy such as here and against Dundee, when Cyriel Dessers looked to have won the game with a late winner. That, too, was chalked off for offside after scenes of wild celebration. Rangers remain in search of a first league win, with top of the table Hearts up next at home.

It's likely Rangers will have parted company with Dessers as well as Nico Raskin, another key player, by then. Bojan Miovski made his debut here and is clearly lacking match fitness. It will take more than the recruitment of him and Everton misfit Youssef Chermiti to lift the mood of fans.

Banners demanding "Martin and Co Must Go" were the product of ingredients Molton Brown won’t be including on the side of bottles anytime soon: fury and indignation. There were banners conveying similar messages in the Celtic fans' area, although their anger seems squarely focused on the board.

Neither set of supporters left satisfied after this tale of the Infirm. Nevertheless, by avoiding the defeat many felt was in the post, it was a more gratifying afternoon for Martin. If that’s a low bar, then there you have it.

It's still Rangers’ worst start to a league season since 1983-84, when they drew one and lost three of their first four league matches.

The playing of Simply the Best when the teams came out must have contravened some sort of trade description act. It was an hour before Celtic came up with their first shot on target. For all their huffing and puffing, Rangers might have proved even less threatening.

‘Not a day to be really beautiful’

Any watching European scouts from the teams due to play either club in the Europa League will have left with a skip in their step. The watching Sir Alex Ferguson might be reconsidering his reported relocation back to Glasgow if this is the standard of football served up in his own backyard.

Miovski’s shoulder barge on Anthony Ralston set the tone for the afternoon of unsubtle, frantic and sub-standard football that ensued. Preventing Celtic from playing any free-flowing football was one of Rangers’ objectives. Martin admitted this afterwards. “Today wasn’t a day to be really beautiful and overthink it with the ball,” he said. “Today was about the other side of the game after midweek (v Club Brugge). The guys responded brilliantly in that respect.”

He later name-checked the returning Tavernier as well as Connor Barron and Mohamed Diomande, who, he accepted, also had reason to be sore with him given recent lack of opportunities. Barron replaced the injured Lyall Cameron in midfield and was lively until tiring in the second half. Diomande was named man of the match. Tavernier, meanwhile, helped bring some composure to a backline where the erratic Nasser Djiga continues to keep everyone on their toes.

It says everything when Rangers getting past the six-minute mark without conceding was viewed as some kind of mini-triumph. Twice in the last three outings they had failed to do so and only once in the previous six matches had they managed to reach half-time with a clean sheet still intact. So this, too, had to be viewed as an accomplishment of sorts.

It’s often slightly awkward when a legend is invited onto the pitch at the interval amid present day struggles. It’s clear Michael Mols, the legend in question here, didn’t wish to pile on the agony. When asked to pick out his favourite goal from his time at Rangers, he wouldn’t. “They’re all special,” he said. It seemed a very sensitive stance on a day when any kind of goal would have been welcomed by home fans.

The same applied for the visitors, whose DNA, manager Brendan Rodgers stressed afterwards, is “about attacking intent” and yet who’ve now taken part in three goalless draws in four outings.