TOM Rogic’s equaliser against Rangers on Sunday changed the tone of the game and laid the platform for a pivotal Celtic win – but we shouldn’t be surprised at that. He has previous.

In terms of pure scoring rate, the Australian’s record in Glasgow Derbies exceeds that of any other opponent he’s faced more than a handful of times (although taking assists into consideration too his personal podium of torment would be Partick Thistle, Motherwell and Kilmarnock).

His sextet of derby strikes have come in 17 games but, due to the fleeting nature of many of those appearances, the minutes equivalent of just over eight matches.

Impressively, he has never lost to the Ibrox side in normal time when he’s scored – the exception being, of course, the 2016 Scottish Cup semi-final match which ended in penalty shootout heartache as he missed the decisive one.

Overall, then, Rogic has accumulated six derby goals and these have come in five wins and one defeat (on penalties). His contributions have been made up of two ‘winners’ – which for our purposes means a goal that technically secured a win – as well as three equalisers and one ‘pile-on’ strike.

Here, we take a waltz down the yellow brick road for a closer look at the Wizard of Oz’s super six and the context in which they occurred…

1. April 17 2016 – Rangers 2-2 Celtic (AET, 5-4 pens)

May as well get this one out of the way, eh? Kenny Miller had put the Light Blues ahead after 16 minutes of this Scottish Cup semi-final tie before Erik Sviatchenko levelled proceedings shortly after half-time.

With the game six minutes deep into extra time, Barrie McKay restored the advantage for Mark Warburton’s side with a long-range pearler. Rogic, having arrived on the scene shortly before the end of normal time when Stefan Johansen was forced off with an injury, stepped up to send the match to penalties by sweeping home a Kieran Tierney cutback in the 106th minute.

Andy Halliday, McKay, Lee Wallace, Gedion Zelalem and Nicky Law all converted their spot-kicks while Charlie Mulgrew, Nir Bitton, Leigh Griffiths and Mikael Lustig did the same for Celtic before Rogic skied the critical attempt to send Rangers into the cup final, where they lost to Hibernian.

Celtic Way:

2. September 23 2017 – Rangers 0-2 Celtic

The opening goal in a 2-0 win here makes this the first of Rogic’s two derby ‘winners’.

A goalless first half had buoyed the Ibrox side somewhat but Celtic came to dissuade any notions of a home victory five minutes after the restart when Rogic pounced on atrociously slack defending from the Light Blues to hammer home past Wes Foderingham.

Leigh Griffiths added the gloss in the 65th minute as Brendan Rodgers’ men stretched their unbeaten domestic run to 57 games.

3. March 11 2018 – Rangers 2-3 Celtic

Another equaliser here, in a match more often remembered for another ‘Tom’.

Celtic twice came from behind to win this one, first when Rogic cancelled out Josh Windass’s opener with a sublime effort. Picking the ball up from James Forrest in the inside right channel just beyond the centre circle in the Rangers half, Rogic brushed Sean Goss aside with a mix of physical presence and Velcro-booted brilliance before curling home from fully 25 yards out.

Daniel Candeias gave the Ibrox side the lead again before the half-hour and Moussa Dembele equalised with a sumptuous lob to set the stage for Odsonne Edouard’s sensational 69th-minute winner as Rodgers’s side – who were down to 10 men when Jozo Simunovic was sent off in the 57th minute – moved nine points clear with nine matches left and a game in hand.

4. April 15 2018 – Celtic 4-0 Rangers

Rogic exorcised any Hampden demons he may have been carrying from 2016 by netting the first goal in a merciless semi-final victory on the road to Celtic’s second successive treble.

Good interplay between Lustig, Dembele and James Forrest combined to get Rogic the ball on the half-turn just inside the Rangers penalty area. Two defenders – Ross McCrorie and Declan John – stood in close proximity but the Australian’s first touch led the former to follow him and excluded the latter from the conversation entirely. A classic Rogic Zidane-turn swivel and a relaxed, right-footed finish later and Celtic were on the march.

Callum McGregor, Dembele and Olivier Ntcham added to the opener for an emphatic scoreline that genuinely could have been two or three goals better off, such was the one-sided nature of the game.

5. April 29 2018 – Celtic 5-0 Rangers

The only ‘pile-on’ goal in the Rogic v Rangers CV, his strike not only helped the club seal their seventh Premiership title in a row but also meant his personal vendetta against the Ibrox club in the 2017-18 season was rounded off in style.

By scoring the fourth in a 5-0 win, the Australian ensured he had scored in four out of four derby matches in the campaign (he missed the other meeting due to a knee injury).

The goal itself was a classy finish – a left-footed curler from the edge of the area – and took advantage of a penalty-box stramash that left Gers keeper Jak Alnwick in a poor position. It added to strikes from Edouard (2) and Forrest, whose mazy run and finish led to Lustig becoming ‘PC Lustig’ for evermore, while McGregor added the fifth before the hour.

6. April 4 2022 – Rangers 1-2 Celtic

If nothing else becomes clear in all this, Rogic loves scoring against Rangers in April. His most recent was another leveller, this time coming after Aaron Ramsey’s third-minute goal had put Giovanni van Bronckhorst’s Light Blues ahead amid a whirlwind start.

Cameron Carter-Vickers would later claim the winner and Rogic’s goal owed much to McGregor’s marauding run scattering the Rangers ranks but don’t be fooled into thinking it was a mere tap-in.

The Australian’s finish was deceptively sophisticated; that extra split-second to allow Allan McGregor to commit, the relaxed, nonchalant left-footed sweep into the net and the muted celebration of a man who has done it all before. Six times, to be exact.