“I can still see it in my mind’s eye even now,” Andy Goram recalled in his 2009 book ‘The Goalie: My Story’.

“Tosh McKinlay - one of the best crossers of a ball I have ever faced - whipped in a beauty. I saw van Hooijdonk’s body shape, and I knew he had to go to the far post, so I took a chance and hurled myself.”

As tributes flooded in over the weekend celebrating the career of the legendary Rangers goalkeeper following his passing, so too were tales recalled of Goram's memorable stop to deny Pierre van Hooijdonk from close range at Ibrox in 1995.

It was a save that came to define the torment which Goram inflicted on Celtic in the 90s. With the Hoops improving under the guidance of Tommy Burns, finding a solution to the questions posed by the impenetrable Goram were increasingly difficult to source.

“Few people will be surprised to know that my abiding memory of Andy Goram is that miraculous stop from Pierre van Hooijdonk’s flying volley in the 3-3 Old Firm draw at Ibrox,” recalled the late Walter Smith. “In my opinion, that save was the pick of them all in his career; it will always be for every Rangers fan.”

READ MORE: Rangers lead tributes to Andy Goram as football world unites in mourning for legendary keeper

With a back-and-forth contest at Ibrox tied at 2-2, Celtic found space on the left-hand side as McKinlay whipped a delivery into the penalty area. Van Hooijdonk ghosted into six-yard box unmarked, cushioning a volley that appeared destined to ripple the net.

Goram, however, leapt to his left, stretching out his right arm to tip the ball over the crossbar. The Celtic striker’s head was buried in his hands for longer than he’d care to remember.

Immediately after the match, van Hooijdonk was gushing in his assessment of Goram’s save, saying: “I was certain I had scored. I had done everything right but somehow Goram saved it. It was magnificent reflexes - the best save I think I've ever seen. It wasn't as if I hit it straight at his body - it was his fingertips - but somehow he got to it and kept it out.”

With years to reflect, the Dutchman remains effusive in his praise. In and interview with The Celtic Way, van Hooijdonk was keen to emphaise the genius of The Goalie.

“Strikers always process things by saying it was a good save rather than a bad miss especially if they set the highest standards for themselves as I did,” said the former Celtic forward. “I just thought any kind of touch on the ball would be enough contact to score. I was that close to the net, I thought there is no chance the goalkeeper has time to react here.”

“Goram was easily underestimated as a goalkeeper because he just didn't look like an athlete at all. He was a great player and a fantastic goalkeeper.”

It was only 12 months later when Goram would make another defining stop, with van Hooijdonk once again finding himself as the victim. With Rangers leading 1-0 at Celtic Park in their quest for nine-in-a-row, the Hoops were awarded a spot-kick. The Dutchman stepped up, planting his penalty to the left, only to be denied by a springing diving save from the Rangers stopper.

Goram became synonymous with Old Firm heroics to such an extent that Burns quipped earlier that year: “When I pass away you can put it on my tombstone ‘Goram broke my heart.’”

READ MORE: Rangers icon Ally McCoist pays emotional tribute to late friend Andy Goram

Richard Gough played infront of Goram on the evening he denied van Hooijdonk with that jaw-dropping save at Ibrox. “Tosh McKinlay has played the ball in from the left and as I turned round, I saw it heading straight for van Hooijdonk,” the former Rangers captain recalled. “He’s got a perfect volley on it and I just thought, ‘well that’s a goal, isn’t it?’. But Andy’s instincts kicked in and he’s somehow got a hand to it. I put my head in my hands thinking, ‘how the hell has he saved that?’”

Yet the image that Walter Smith would care to remember didn’t involve Goram off the ground, defying the laws of physics in a steadfast attempt to keep the ball out of the net. “It wasn’t just the save. It went far deeper than that,” he remarked in Goram’s book. “It was his defiance. It was all about his reaction afterwards. Not what he said, just all his emotions pouring out. He lived to keep the ball out of the goal.”

Underpinning it all for Goram was an unbridled love for the club. He understood that he was living out the dream of thousands around the world.

“When I watch [the save] now, the Celtic fans are up in the air when [van Hooijdonk] hits it,” he recalled. “They know it’s a goal, and they’re up in the air. When they come back down, though, their hands are on their heads before they’ve even landed.”

“I love that.”