Late strike earns Rangers precious point
Rangers' title hopes are hanging by a thread after the 1-1 draw
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Sunday, 17, Dec 2006 03:02
A sublime strike three minutes from time gave Rangers a 1-1 draw with bitter rivals Celtic in the Old Firm clash at Ibrox.
Brahim Hemdani scored his first goal for the hosts to cancel out former Everton midfielder Thomas Gravesen's stunning first-half volley.
The result sees Celtic remain a mammoth 16 points ahead of third-placed Rangers.
Rangers dominated the first-half in a bid to score for the first time in five matches against their Glasgow rivals.
First, Bhoys keeper Artur Boruc turned striker Nacho Novo's shot just past the post.
Then, skipper Barry Ferguson produced a mazy run before whacking his shot over the bar from six yards when it looked easier to score.
But against the run of play, Gordon Strachan's side took the lead eight minutes before the break when Shunsuke Nakamura's swinging ball across the face of goal was missed by the Rangers defence.
It fell to Gravesen who blasted his shot into the top corner from a tight angle for his fifth goal of the season.
Minutes later, Celtic felt they should have been awarded a penalty when skipper Neil Lennon was brought down by Steven Smith but referee Kenny Clark waved play on.
After the break, Nakamura came close to doubling the Hoops' lead when he flicked his effort wide after Maciej Zurawski's through ball.
Rangers came agonisingly close to equalising on 61 minutes with Dado Prso striking the post with a crisp volley with Libor Sionko hitting the other post from the rebound.
In the closing stages, both managers rung the changes with Paul Le Guen sending on Filip Sebo for Sionko, and Strachan replacing Nakamura and Jiri Jarosik with Stephen Pearson and Kenny Miller.
Rangers snatched a point on 87 minutes when Hemdani fired a volley into the top corner despite Boruc flinging himself to his right.
In stoppage time, Boruc kept out defender Karl Svensson's goal-bound shot following Prso's lay off.