Hoops in hard fought victory to remain seven points clear at the top of the table: Motherwell 1-2 Celtic
Current SPFL champions Celtic made the short trip to Fir Park in a bid to keep a hold of their seven-point lead at the top of the league table. It certainly wasn’t one of Celtic’s easier games, as once again they had the challenge of facing not only Motherwell, but VAR.
It was a fast and firing start for the boys in green with fan-favourite Kyogo Furuhashi scoring in the opening 15 minutes of the game. Matt O’Riley quickly won the ball back after initially losing it to Callum Slattery to put an amazing cross into the Japanese striker’s path, who struck it home from the six-yard box.
Not much action happened after the opening goal as Celtic dominated the ball, but failed to take their chances. Jota’s strike in the second-half put his team two in front, however, the goal was deemed offside after a controversial VAR check. This didn’t stop the visitors from chasing a second goal, with Ange Postecoglou making some changes in order to help his team keep a hold of their lead.
Giorgios Giakoumakis, David Turnbull, Daizen Maeda and Oliver Abildgaard were the chosen candidates from the bench. These substitutions from the manager clearly helped as not long after Maeda doubled their advantage in the 84th minute with a sensational ball in from Turnbull.
Motherwell manager Steven Hammell was not happy with the decision to award the goal and believed it should have been checked by VAR. Hammell said: “We tried to take a quick throw and it’s stopped by the Celtic player before he’s even on the pitch. I think that’s a restart, a throw in again. They score from that and that’s a massive advantage, so that’s something we would’ve liked them to have had a look at”.
After Celtic’s second goal hit the back of the net, the game seemed over, until Motherwell pulled one back. Tierney volleyed the ball past Joe Hart after a free-kick from Slattery.
The hosts’ goal didn’t seem to faze the current champions as they held on to their lead and sealed all three points.
Ange Postecoglou was pleased with the win, but believed his team could have performed a lot better than they did, while also giving some credit to their opponents. Postecoglou said “It was a bit of a grind. Credit to Motherwell, they worked awfully hard to disrupt our play and we just never got into a real rhythm. It wasn’t our best performance by far, but we got the job done.”
Overall, it was a pleasing night for the travelling support as they saw their team retain their lead at the top of the table, seven points clear of their city rivals.