The inconvenient Celtic truth Brendan Rodgers is avoiding as furious ref rant is fooling no one - Keith Jackson

Now that every man and his dog in the SPFL are busy writing their own stories perhaps they ought to remember the importance of a good plot.

And once they’ve found one they like the look of they should do as much as they can to stick to it. Because there’s a big difference between creating a plot and losing one. And, over the course of a perfectly chaotic weekend, that’s precisely what Rangers and Celtic took it in turns to do.

You don’t need to be a rocket scientist to know what’s at stake now that the finishing line is coming into sight in the race towards the title. Tempers are beginning to fray and nerves are being stretched but, as is always the case in these adrenaline-charged moments, clear heads and a strong constitution will be required between now and May. Rangers allowed their composure to escape them on Saturday when all they required was a run of the mill victory over Motherwell to open up a five point lead at the top of the table.

And even though they will have celebrated Celtic’s defeat at Tynecastle yesterday afternoon, the challengers may yet have cause to look back on the events of the last 72 hours as the win that got away.

By failing to stay calm in the heat of the moment a huge opportunity has passed them by. And yet, despite themselves, they made it out the other side of the fixture list, with no damage done and a two point lead intact.

For their part, the champions headed across the M8 knowing three points would be enough to get their noses back in front at a critical point in the campaign, with just the nine games remaining. That they failed spectacularly to get the job done was almost all of their own doing, even if manager Brendan Rodgers jabbed one accusatory finger in the direction of ref Don