Brendan Rodgers says that he won’t be too harsh on top scorer Daizen Maeda after he blew a last-gasp chance to win the game for Celtic at Ibrox, because his star man had been in Japan all week as his wife prepared to give birth.
As it turned out, it was something of a wasted journey for Maeda as he wasn’t the only one who didn't quite deliver, with the expected new arrival delayed. That meant he was able to dash back to Glasgow in time to take his place in the Celtic team as they arrested their recent run of defeats to Rangers.
But it went some way to explain why Maeda was a little quieter than normal in the game, and maybe why he couldn’t sort his feet out to convert the opportunity that was presented to him at the death.
“We have to give him a bit of leeway,” Rodgers said.
“He'd been in Japan all week, he had his first training day with us yesterday.
“He flew expecting for his wife to have their third child and she didn't have it, so he had to come back and then come into a game here at Ibrox.
“It's one of those tough moments, you look at it and you analyse it. He's through, coming onto to the keeper. But in fairness to Liam (Kelly), he's done well, he's had a good spread and I'm not sure he can get it square for us to finish.
“It just showed you we kept going right to the very end. The will was there to score, to fight, to run.
“It was pleasing, especially the second half.”
Maeda’s wife is still back in Japan, and Rodgers said his attacker has yet to make a call on whether or not he will jet back out to his homeland again.
“Well, I said to him that you can do if you feel you want to go back after tonight,” he said.
“But we'll wait and see.”
Rodgers was delighted for striker Adam Idah to get Celtic’s equaliser on the day, in a season where he has attracted criticism for his performances.
“I thought he was a good reference for us today,” he said.
“Because when there is pressure on, he has that ability to play up to him and his touch was good. He didn't get too despondent from the miss in the first half, but he kept going.
“It was a wonderful touch [for his goal] and he's got that power in the box.
“So, no, I'm really pleased for him. He's been a real contributor for us this season. If you look at his minutes to goals ratio, it's very, very good.
“And, like I said, he's a player for the big moment, and it was a big moment for him.”
Another player that Rodgers was delighted with was his keeper Viljami Sinisalo, particularly in the face of some missiles that were thrown at him in the second half of the game.
“I thought Vil was excellent,” he said.
“You're always looking, for me, for keepers with temperament, especially a young keeper.
“I thought his temperament was really good. He didn't look nervy, dealt well with anything he had to. I've been really pleased with Vil.
“We knew he was a really good young keeper. Indirectly, this has given him a chance to get some games and show that he has the authority to play for Celtic. And he's definitely done that.
“Kasper (Schmeichel) is just on-going day-to-day. We'll see how he is, and we'll see where he's at over the next week or so.
“I was really pleased with the team's performance. Rangers started off with a diamond, but we managed to find a way through that.
“Maybe in the final third of the pitch, maybe we were just short today in certain passes and making the final pass. But overall, I thought we had really good control of the game.
“We probably should go one up and then from that corner that we get we go behind. Again, just before half-time, so it's not a great time to concede, but I said to the players, they've done a lot of really good things. We've just got to keep our rhythm, keep passing, keep the control of the game and hopefully eventually the goal will come.”
