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Lubo fears for Mowbray's future, Smith is Ellis's man and Rangers could win league at Parkhead - all this and more in today's Rumour Mill.

FORMER Celtic hero Lubomir Moravcik has urged the club to do everything possible to keep Robbie Keane and build their team around him.

ROBBIE Keane has paid tribute to fellow forward Morten Rasmussen, with the Dane starting to suggest he may be the Irishman's ideal foil at Celtic.

Rangers near SPL title, Celtic in negotiations with Boruc and questions emerge over Ibrox takeover - all this and more in today's Rumour Mill.

INTEREST has been piqued by the news that the Scottish Football Association has initiated a scheme, in conjunction with Mars, to encourage over 18s to return to football. This

TONY Mowbray has revealed that Celtic have opened contract talks with goalkeeper Artur Boruc.

HO HUM! I guess Sunday's game is the blueprint for most of our games until May. We have that bit of extra quality that will win us games and hope that the opposition don&#

CELTIC today sent out a clear signal that they are keen on retaining the services Artur Boruc after manager Tony Mowbray confirmed that contract negotiations had been opened w

Rangers go public on takeover talks, Weir calls for backing for Smith and Kyle says no to Russian move - all this and more in today's Rumour Mill.

McGeady gets confused; Rangers confirm talks; Smith fumes at Fifa; plus the rest of today's news, gossip and spurious rumours.

MORTEN RASMUSSEN insists pride will drive the Celtic players on for the rest of the season.

AT the third time of asking this season, Celtic finally got the better of Falkirk yesterday. Robbie Keane, as a richly remunerated striker should, made all the difference i

CELTIC manager Tony Mowbray has insisted Aiden McGeady was not fully aware of what he was saying when he accused referee Dougie McDonald of bias in last week's Old Firm sh

TONY Mowbray believes holding some of the Scottish media at bay put his side under increased pressure before their 2-0 win at Falkirk.

In Robbie Keane, Celtic at least have one player who will not be going through the motions for the rest of this season, with the club's hopes of regaining the Scottish Premier League title almost extinguished. Keane will be motivated by the desire to kick-start his career in England's Premier League during his loan spell, whether that be at Tottenham Hotspur or elsewhere.

He was the difference between the teams here today, two smart finishes the highlights of an otherwise drab contest. "It has not crossed my mind," said the Celtic manager, Tony Mowbray, of any suggestion Keane could join his club full-time in the summer. The player has virtually dismissed that notion. "I don't know what Robbie's thoughts are," he added. "You saw today why he is here. When chances come along, he is there to take them."

Keane's goals were welcome for the simple reason that there was little else to get excited about here. The game started in mild controversy because of the pre-match spat which had broken out between the clubs after Celtic were accused of complaining to the SPL about the state of the pitch. Although the surface lacked grass, it proved adequate enough.

Afterwards the Falkirk manager, Steven Pressley, did his best to talk up his team with such adjectives as terrific, brilliant and scintillating, in what was essentially a morale-boosting exercise.

Keane had already passed up a one-on-one opportunity by the time he opened the scoring. Morten Rasmussen, Keane's burly, unorthodox yet effective strike partner, played a fine pass into his path; the 29-year-old did the rest with an angled shot. Falkirk, whose SPL survival hinges on the next 10 games, had Enoch Showunmi to blame for a failure to restore parity. The striker supplied a comedy moment, miskicking when six yards from the Celtic goal seconds before half-time and headed wastefully over after 68 minutes.

Keane promptly demonstrated why his £68,000-a-week salary equates roughly to what Showunmi collects in a year. Marc Crosas was the supplier this time with a quick free-kick and Keane showed speed of legs and mind to nip between Falkirk's central defenders before clipping the ball over the advancing Robert Olejnik.

Mowbray was left to hail "a professional performance" before diverting his attention once again towards the Scottish media. The manager has what is rapidly descending into a mini-obsession with the fourth estate.

"If anything there was more pressure on us today than [for the Old Firm game] last week," Mowbray said. "The team had to get a result because, if not, the media keep piling it on."

Man of the match Robbie Keane (Celtic)

• Scottish Premier League
• Falkirk
• Celtic

Ewan Murray
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A Robbie Keane double at Falkirk kept Celtic's faint Clydesdale Bank Premier League title hopes alive.

Two goals from Robbie Keane kept Celtic's faint Scottish Premier League title hopes alive at the Falkirk Stadium.

Robert Olejnik had already thwarted the on-loan Irish striker twice before he drilled the ball past the Falkirk goalkeeper in the 34th minute after being set up by Morten Rasmussen.

The home side passed up several further decent chances before Keane added his second in the 79th minute when a quick Marc Crosas free-kick sent Keane sprinting past the home defence and he knocked the ball past Olejnik to secure the points.

Victory takes Celtic back to within 10 points of the SPL leaders Rangers, who also have a game in hand.

• Scottish Premier League
• Falkirk
• Celtic

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IN THE Glasgow footballing domain you are not damned in yourself; you are damned in comparison.

Rangers' latest stride towards retaining their SPL championship was ultimately just as purposeful as all the others they have taken in the past few months.

Once again, however, there were periods of uncertainty before they took the ascendancy and scored the goals – a double from Lee McCulloch and one from substitute Nacho Novo after Graham Carey had given St Mirren a surprise first-half lead – that made the victory quite comfortable in the end.

Hardly renowned as one of the most dazzling fixtures on the calendar, this match was marked by general sluggishness and pedestrianism before the goals started to arrive. That was perhaps predictable given that Rangers came into it direct from their success in the Old Firm derby six days before.

This was the sides' fourth meeting in 39 days, thanks to their recent replayed Scottish Cup tie, a series in which St Mirren had demonstrated an uncommon knack for frustrating the champions.

The scoreless draw in the first match of the Cup tie at Paisley was followed by Rangers' victory with a very late goal at Ibrox – testimony to the effectiveness of St Mirren manager Gus MacPherson's 4-5-1 system in taking the heat out of Rangers' attacks.

There was little change in the established pattern here, with St Mirren having the two best opportunities before Rangers' Steven Davis hit the top of the crossbar with a free-kick and Carey and McCulloch followed with their goals.

Allan McGregor, ever alert in the Rangers goal, blocked close-range shots from Michael Higdon and Steven Thomson before conceding a goal in what looked a bizarre fashion.

When Carey made to take his free-kick from 25 yards, McGregor seemed completely to misread his own position and the St Mirren player's intentions. The right-footed shot, not struck especially powerfully, dipped down to the right of the goalkeeper, who remained motionless along with his defensive wall. With half an hour gone, St Mirren were ahead.

Rangers' reply was scrappier, relying on the break of the ball. Kevin Thomson's free-kick from the right was blocked and, in the scramble, the ball broke kindly to McCulloch, who left-footed it home from 10 yards.

Rangers these days do not need much encouragement to bully opponents who have allowed them an opportunity and it was no surprise when they took the lead, after less than a minute of the second half.

Once again, McCulloch was in the prime position to take advantage when Kris Boyd headed the ball to Kenny Miller, who fed it back to the midfielder. This time, McCulloch's right-footed shot from 15 yards sped low to the right of Paul Gallacher.

That second goal marked the start of a lengthy period of sustained pressure from Rangers.

But, having shrugged off their earlier blandness, they then appeared to go into show-off mode, seemingly intent on playing with a swagger and scoring with style rather than concentrating on finishing the job with the efficiency of an artisan.

The riskiness of such an attitude became plain when a succession of good positions around the St Mirren goal were surrendered without putting Gallacher under serious threat, and when several visiting players appeared in McGregor's penalty area, some of them allowed a scoring attempt.

It was not until after Novo had replaced DaMarcus Beasley in the 64th minute that Rangers' advantage was extended to a more comfortable margin. Davis's floated free-kick from the left found Novo utterly without a challenge and he simply deflected the ball right-footed past Gallacher from about eight yards.

It was enough finally to drain the visitors of the resistance which, for at least half the match, had appeared to give them a chance of leaving Ibrox with a reward.

• Rangers
• Celtic
• Scottish Premier League

Glenn Gibbons
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TONY Mowbray has heaped scorn on the SFA appeals system following Celtic's failure to have Scott Brown's red card in last Sunday's Old Firm match rescinded.