Motherwell 1 – 1 Celtic
WHO didn’t see that coming? After a first 45 minutes when Celtic were excellent, scored a superb goal through who else but Ryan Christie, scored a second perfectly good goal only for an Honest Mistake to intervene, then we got a penalty and Leigh Griffiths missed it wastefully and Motherwell got into the dressing room happy to still be in the game at only one down.
Blame the referee Kevin Clancy. Blame Leigh Griffiths who looked well below his best tonight but Motherwell weren’t bothered. What should have been 3-0 was only 1-0 and they always had a chance.
Celtic were a transformed side in the second half in that we went from being excellent to being just as rotten as the home side. The substitutions didn’t help either – Scotty Sinclair who replaced Olivier Ntcham at the break looked well short of confidence, again. This can only go on for so long before Brendan acts decisively.
Yet Motherwell, with a poverty of talent on display created next to nothing – they just hung on, hoping for a chance. And it came with three minutes left. Gamboa, who had a decent game, was exposed for his defensive weakness and the ball broke to Johnston who shot across Craig Gordon – oh dear – to find the far corner.
It was as underserved as it was predictable. The news from Ibrox with Aberdeen winning 1-0 means that it is Kilmarnock, our bogey team and opponents on Saturday, who go top. The late goal put Celtic from first to third.
Pass marks to Ryan Christie, Kieran Tierney and Jonny Hayes. Below par performances from Sinclair, Griffiths and in the second half just about the entire team.
A shout out to the Celtic support for participating in the respects shown to the young Motherwell fan who lost his life. The response from the Motherwell fans was appalling and should be noted.
Summary: Two points dropped, thanks to an Honest Mistake and a wasteful penalty miss. But we can only really blame ourselves.
Man of the Match – Jonny Hayes.
