This season more than any other, one learns not to make predictions – or make them and be prepared to look daft. A helicopter Saturday is far from an outlandish thought and the more the cut and thrust continues the more goal difference becomes part of the conversation. Hearts’ column sits at 31, Celtic’s at 26 and Rangers’ at 34.
If there is a sense that the league could be decided in the final minutes of the season then there’s good reason for that. Between the three of them, critically important goals have been scored in the final 10 minutes, the final minutes and beyond the 90th minute in 27 different matches.
Hearts have won games in the 94th minute, 91st minute, 91st minute again, 88th minute, 87th minute and 86th minute. They’ve snatched a draw in the 83rd minute and 87th minute. The flip side is that they’ve dropped points in the 90th minute and the 88th minute.
Celtic, too, have a well earned reputation for digging it out, for overcoming frustration and winning games that they look like drawing. Resilience in other words.
They’ve won league games in the 91st minute twice, the 92nd minute, the 95th minute, the 96th minute and the 97th minute. They’ve also conceded an equaliser in the 87th minute and a winner also in the 87th minute. Over the score, they have a net gain of 14 points in those game-turning minutes of Premiership matches.
Rangers score more goals from the 90th minute and beyond than anybody else but some of those are just decoration. In those title-defining moments from the 80th minute, when games are tight and the pressure is on, they’ve gained six points and have lost five.
That, in some way, reflects Rangers’ vulnerability when the heat is at its most intense, just as it was when again coming back from 2-0 behind on Sunday against Motherwell only to lose the game in the dying minutes.
There will be many more jaw-dropping moments in the tantalizing weeks ahead, many games that will take big turns.
This is a time for the fearless now. Who breaks first? Celtic’s team is packed with league winners but none of them have done it like they’re going to have to do it in the next four games. Even the serial champions are on unfamiliar terrain.
For months, Celtic and Rangers have been waiting for McInnes’ men to crack. Maybe they thought that moment was coming at Easter Road, a day that reminded all once again that in this epic league season, it won’t be over until it’s over.
