John Lundstram’s red card in Rangers’ defeat to Celtic on Saturday afternoon was labelled ‘madness’ on a day to forget for the Englishman.
Celtic won the game 2-1 and are now on the verge of winning the Scottish Premiership, six points clear of Rangers with two games to play.
However, they were given a helping hand by their opponents, and specifically Lundstram, who scored an own goal and was shown a red card before half-time.
Matt O’Riley gave Celtic the lead and Lundstram’s calamitous own goal seemed to put the home side in a very strong position.
Cyriel Dessers headed Rangers back into contention on 40 minutes but a ridiculous lunge from Lundstram on Alistair Johnston left Celtic with 10 players for the entire second half.
Former Celtic boss Neil Lennon had sympathy for the Rangers manager, who he felt would be fuming with Lundstram for the ‘madness’ he displayed.
‘If I’m Philippe Clement, I’m absolutely raging, 100 per cent,’ Lennon told Sky Sports. ‘He’s an experienced player.
‘They’ve done great to get back into the game against a top team. They’ve shown good mentality, the shape has been alright. It’s madness.’
Clement remained pretty measured after the game but admitted that the red card cost the team and he did not expect to see that kind of decision from an experienced player.
‘It makes a massive difference, of course,’ he said. ‘Lunny will be the first one to know that, but it’s decision making, wrong decision making in that moment.
‘He knows. But I don’t forget all the good things he did the last couple of months for the team and the last couple of years for the club.
‘So everybody makes mistakes, you don’t expect from an experienced guy that mistake in this game but it is what it is and we have to move forward now.’
Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers was actually a bit frustrated that his team did not press home their advantage further, with a nervy ending to the contest.
‘We made the game really tense at the end when there was no need for it to be,’ he said.
‘We’re not over the line yet, but we’re in a great place. We need to recover and look to finish the job on Wednesday.
‘It’s always the best team that wins after 38 games. We’re not there yet, but the finish line is in touching distance.’
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