Motherwell v Celtic

13th October 2001

SPL

Story of the Match

mins
1 Corner to Motherwell not cleared properly. Motherwell fail to capitalise
8 Petrov shoots from 25yds - easily held.
11 Great play by Hartson on the right after receiving ball from Sylla. His cross reaches Henrik at the far post inside the 6yd box but Henrik heads over.
12 Nicholas beats Baldé and fires in a dangerous cross which Guppy does well to cut out.
13 Petrov fouled 30 yds from goal. Larsson and Petrov shape up as if Stan is going to strike. Stan runs over the ball and Lubo strikes a beauty high over the wall and the goalkeeper. It comes down off the bar and into the net.
23 Hartson beats 'Well offside trap to put Henrik through. He runs from the halfway line into the box, makes space and shoots. Keeper saves well.
24 A desperate saving tackle just outside the box denies Henrik a scoring chance.
26 Baldé heads over from corner.
29 Douglas saves after Lasley strikes from Baldé clearance.
40 Petrov cross from deep finds Hartson. Keeper dives to save.
46 Quick free kick from Hartson finds Petrov, who plays Larsson in inside the box. He shoots from close range. Keeper blocks well.
48 Hartson heads wide from Lubo corner.
50 Douglas saves from Strong following 'Well corner.
57 Motherwell penalty claim as Lennon contacts Lasley in the box.
66 Hartson heads clear from corner. Ball is headed to Strong. His shot bounces wide of Douglas into the net.
70 Hartson header. Easily held.
85 Baldé heads wide from Petrov free kick.
87 Maloney (on for Moravcik) brought down in box. Penalty! Larsson hits the ball high and wide to keeper's right into the net.

Match Comment

This is becoming a typical Celtic away performance. Against Hibs and Dundee we surrendered a lot of territory and possesion with differing results. Against Hibs we got 3 quick goals; against Dundee we were lucky to survive the first half but still managed to score with our first real chance.

Our defending tonight though wasn't so assured. Too often loose balls fell to Motherwell players outside the box and a number of shots rained in, one of which ended in a goal. The player we missed most was Paul Lambert, rested tonight.

The game was lit up by a superb goal from Lubomir Moravcik. His ability to make the ball lift up so high and come back down again on target is unbelievable. Following the goal, Celtic had a number of near things but a spirited Motherwell performance made it look as though we would have to settle for a point.

There were a number of stoppages for injuries that broke up the flow of the game, but it was the sharpness of Maloney, pouncing on a ball inside the box, that gave us a penalty. Motherwell had been denied a penalty earlier and will probably consider themselves a bit unlucky not to get the award. However Larsson finished professionally and the ref added on a mere 3 minutes. It was strange to see Motherwell making a substitution in this period as they just wasted their own time.

A great 3 points for a slightly jaded Celtic. The worrying news is that Chris Sutton's illness could cause him to miss our game in Porto. His replacement, Hartson, was one of our better players but I feel he still lacks Chris's ability to hold up play.

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