It’s advantage Celtic, as the Ibrox side wilts under the pressure after Captain Disappointed’s mid-week announcement
Eric Knott 
GLASGOW, SCOTLAND - APRIL 26: Rangers' James Tavernier during a William Hill Premiership match between Rangers and Motherwell at Ibrox Stadium, on April 26, 2026, in Glasgow, Scotland. (Photo by Rob Casey/SNS Group via Getty Images)
If Carlsberg did Sundays? Well, for Celtic fans, it was almost the perfect Sunday.
Almost.
Hibs were within minutes of sealing an altogether unlikely draw against Hearts after being reduced to 9 men.
But alas, it wasn’t to be.
An 85th minute deflected shot from Blair Spittal gave the Tynecastle side all 3 points in the end.
So, its onto next weekend, where Celtic can go joint top again with a win over Hibernian at Easter Road.
Then on Monday night, Hearts face the Ibrox side at home.
A win for Derek McInnes’ side, and the Ibrox side will be 4 points behind us heading into the Glasgow Derby.
If we can put their lights out the following weekend, then it will become a two way fight between us and Hearts.
Yesterday, the Ibrox side did what they always do.
They wilted under the pressure and lost at home to Motherwell.
A 91st minute winner from Emmanuel Longelo proved their undoing.
Captain Disappointed’s announcement mid-week proved to be a badly mis-timed piece of PR for him and the Ibrox side.
With Simply the best blaring out over the tannoy before kick-off and a big Tifo which said, ‘Keep believing’, by the full-time whistle, all belief was lost.
Motherwell came out of the blocks from the start, and proved they certainly weren’t there to make up the numbers.
The Ibrox side probably thought they’d be easy pickings after 4 defeats from 5 prior to yesterday.
The Steelmen certainly didn’t look like a side low on confidence, as they went 2 with goals up in the 25th minute after a blistering start.
Lukas Fadinger opened the scoring, and their eventual slayer, Emmanuel Longelo got the 2nd.
Truth be told, it could have been more by half-time.
Motherwell were in total control in that first half.
In the second, they pulled it back to 2-2, with goals from Raskin and Chermiti, but that didn’t seem to deter Motherwell.
They stuck to their task, and in the 90th minute – after a blistering break – Longelo slotted the ball, via a deflection from Emmanuel Fernadez’ head, into the middle of Jack Butland’s net.
Not even almost 11 minutes of injury time – and a missed sitter from wonder boy – Mikey Moore, deep into injury time could save them from dropping all 3 points.
Captain Disappointed’s introduction in the second half looked as if it might inspire them to a win, but it wasn’t meant to be.
The pressure always gets to them, and him, in the end.
Oh dear 😂 pic.twitter.com/kwqbwidgkK
— TonyMac (@TonyMac67s) April 26, 2026
Celtic had done what they needed to do on Saturday with a well fought win over Falkirk at Celtic Park.
The Ibrox side knew a win would return them to second place.
This morning, they remain in third.
Make no mistake, Celtic are now well and truly back in this title race.
And if the atmosphere was anything to go by on Saturday, the games against the Ibrox side and Hearts will be off the scale.
It is now very much in our own hands.
We need to make sure that we don’t slip up at Easter Road next Saturday.
It was the Daizen Maeda show against Falkirk on Saturday, and it seems that the Japanese international is back to his old self.
We will need more of the same from him at what is always a tough venue for us.
I guess that one boils down to how much Hibs want to see Hearts win the league…
Am I suggesting they’ll go easy on us?
Not for a minute.
But it is a tough predicament for them, isn’t it?
Just saying…
Key Takeaways
- Celtic fans felt a mix of excitement and disappointment as Hibs narrowly lost to Hearts at Tynecastle, despite being down to 10 men.
- The Ibrox side suffered another loss, this time to Motherwell, with a last-minute winner sealing their fate.
- Motherwell displayed confidence, scoring two early goals, while the Ibrox side struggled under pressure throughout the match.
- Celtic remains in the title race, and they’ll aim for a crucial win against Hibernian next weekend at Easter Road.
- The atmosphere for upcoming games against the Ibrox side and Hearts is expected to be intense as Celtic looks to maintain their winning momentum.
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Hibs were reduced to 9 men Eric not 10.
It will come down to the match officials at each celtic ragers games , we are lucky to have Martin O’Neil and unlucky to have Desmond and his cabal, should we lose the league this year I hope the fans will bite the bullet and boycott season tickets other wise it will be more of the same and you will be complicit in the decline of celtic . Stop giving them your money
Yep, down to 9 men and still took the jam tarts till the 87 minute to get the winner a testament to how good they are if you’re to believe the smsm. Thought the huns would drop points and if the hibees hadn’t shot themselves in the foot then maybe they could have won. To be honest, I don’t think we’re any better although it’s a boost to see maeda regain form I just hope we can see it through. The worring aspect that I stated a few weeks ago is the men in black’s influence in these games. Where did they get an extra 10 mins from? Not to mention all there other dubious decisions. We will just need to be smarter than them to get over the line.
Those nice officials are still doing their level best to aid and abet a nice easy and winning theRangers in their quest for glory ! Ten minutes of added time at Ibroxland yesterday …10 minutes of additional time especially after Motherwell scored in the 88th minute or so . It’s not even done in a furtive way any more . It’s almost like ‘ whatever it takes ‘ from the referees. Herr Rohl was contending all is well and his players are still up for it and believing after Motherwell pumped them and out played them for most of the match . But they were growling at each other and blaming one another on the pitch for the defeat . So much for total harmony eah ? As for Hearts beating 9 men Hibs and scoring two deflected goals ? McInnes did not know what to do going by his facial reactions shown multiple times by the adoring Sky Sports Scotland. He got lucky . The win certainly put the smile back on the boat of big fake Kris Boyd .
The games against rangers and hearts I think going by yesterdays crowd will look after itself . It’s the games against Motherwell and hibs I’m more cautious about but I think things are going well for going into last 4 games . Coybig