Rangers grab point with late goal against Celtic

Rangers snatched a late equaliser in an enthralling 1-1 home draw with Glasgow rivals Celtic yesterday but still trail the Scottish Premier League leaders by 16 points.

French defender Brahim Hemdani's shot from the edge of the box took a deflection off Thomas Grave-sen and looped over Celtic keeper Artur Boruc on 88 minutes.

Danish midfielder Gravesen had earlier fired Celtic ahead seven minutes before the interval in a pulsating encounter.

Celtic top the standings with 48 points from 19 games while Aber-deen are second on 34.

Rangers manager Paul Le Guen told BBC Radio: "I think we are better now than two months ago for example. It is good to see our team is more settled and I think we deserved a draw and perhaps a victory."

Celtic were annoyed at being denied a first-half penalty when captain Neil Lennon went down after a challenge by Steve Smith.

"There's a penalty in the first half and not even a decision to make on that," Celtic manager Gordon Strachan said. "We have played 19 games and not a penalty and that's some going considering the number of times we are in the box.

"Even Rangers fans thought it was a penalty. There was a minute's silence for that decision because they were shocked."

The first half was a superb affair with Rangers dominating the opening half hour before losing their grip and falling a goal behind.

Rangers wasted some clear chances in the second half with Dado Prso volleying against the right post.

It seemed Celtic had hung on for the win when Hemdani's late effort spun up off Gravesen and dropped into the net.