Motherwell suffered back-to-back defeats for just the second time in the Premiership this season, as Champions Celtic ran out 3-1 winners after the Steelmen were reduced to ten men.
Elijah Just opened the scoring at Parkhead to give the visitors the lead just after the half-hour mark. However, the lead would only last six minutes, with Yang Hyun-jun equalising following a mix-up in the Motherwell defence.
The game was hanging in the balance until the 71st minute when Emmanuel Longelo was shown a red card for following Daizen Maeda in the box from a corner, with Tomas Cvancara converting from the subsequent spot kick. With the man advantage, Yang scored his second with ten minutes of regulation time to seal the win for Martin O’Neill’s side.
Motherwell made one change to the side that suffered defeat against Dundee last weekend. Stephen Welsh wasn’t able to play against his parent club, so he dropped out of the squad and was replaced by Tom Sparrow, with Stephen O’Donnell shifting to centre-back.
Aston Oxborough replaced Matty Connelly on the bench, with Connelly missing out due to a training ground injury. Andy Halliday and Zander McAllister also came onto the bench in place of Regan Charles-Cook, who missed out through injury.
John Beaton signalled for the game to get underway with a sold-out away end in full voice backing the Steelmen, and the early optimism was apparent. Just four minutes in, Motherwell settled into their rhythm, and Ibrahim Said found space on the right to send a ball across the face of goal. Longelo was at the back post, and the full-back attempted to tee up Tawanda Maswanhise, but the effort was blocked by Benjamin Arthur.
The first big moment of the match came after seven minutes when Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain stretched for the ball and caught Just high on the leg. Beaton was quick to produce the red card, but the former Liverpool and Arsenal man would count himself lucky not to see a VAR intervention. Just went down twice following the challenge, as the forward powered through the pain to continue the match despite a nasty gash on his shin.
Celtic were presented with a big opportunity to break the deadlock in the 9th minute. Reo Hatate sent a ball into the box which Longelo covered, but he accidentally fed the ball to Benjamin Nygren, but the Motherwell defender produced a swift recovery to clear the danger.
Longelo would be involved just a minute later when Motherwell came close to scoring. Longelo’s charging overlap up the left caused Celtic problems, with Longelo getting into the final third. He attempted a cross, but the ball deflected off Colby Donovan, and the Celtic keeper, Viljami Sinisalo, would have to be quick to react to stop the ball from going in at his near post.
The next big opening came in the 20th minute. Oxlade-Chamberlain sent a low effort towards the goal, which saw Calum Ward produce a stunning save to prevent the ball from going in the net. The ball was sent onto the inside of the post by Ward before trickling along the goal line but not crossing it. With the Celtic fans up celebrating, thinking the ball went in, Jens Berthel Askou encouraged his player to relax and take the sting out of the game.
Arthur would send his header from a corner over the bar four minutes later, but the opening goal came at the other end after 32 minutes.
Callum Slattery closed Sinisalo’s passing options, with the Celtic keeper opting to play Hatate the ball with the Japanese midfielder on the edge of his own box and facing his own goal. Elliot Watt nailed his press and robbed Hatate of the ball. With Watt on the floor, he was able to flick the ball to Slattery, who laid it over to Just, who fired low and hard into the bottom corner to open the scoring.
The lead didn’t last long and Celtic levelled shortly after with Motherwell causing their own problems. Tom Sparrow’s intended pass to Stephen O’Donnell was intercepted by Nygren, who nipped in and tried to square the ball across goal. Ward was able to get down and push the ball away, but it fell to Yang in the middle of the box, who made no mistake with the finish.
Motherwell quickly settled back down and kept hold of possession and when Said burst past the already booked Oxlade-Chamberlain on the edge of the box, Beaton blew for a foul on the edge of the area but didn’t see the challenge worthy of a second yellow.
Slattery sent the free-kick over the bar, and the midfielder came close to converting following a wonderful team move before the break. Patient play was almost rewarded, with Said cutting inside from the right and the Nigerian setting the ball to Slattery, who moved into the box, shifting the ball past Liam Scales, but he couldn’t find the bottom corner with the effort.
Celtic made a half-time substitute, but it was Motherwell who almost scored early in the second half. Just broke forward with the ball on the left, slid the pass to Said, who tried to curl it into the bottom right corner, but the keeper was a match to the effort and pushed the ball away. In a frantic start to the second period, Celtic drove forward, and the ball was worked to Nygren on the edge of the box, and his deflected effort came within the width of the post of finding the corner.
The game eventually settled down, and Maswanhise had the next chance after 65 minutes. Slattery’s long ball wide to the forward saw him in a 1v1 situation against Arthur. He cut inside onto his right foot and went searching for the bottom corner, but the ball went past the post.
With the match truly hanging in the balance, and both sides feeling they could take the three points, a decisive moment arrived on 71 minutes. Celtic’s corner was sent to the back-post area, and a tussle between Maeda and Longelo saw the Celtic man fall to the ground. Beaton halted play and was sent to the VAR monitor. Upon his return to the field, he pointed to the spot and showed a red card.
Cvancara made no mistake from the spot, sending the ball down the middle to put his side in front for the first time in the match. With the task seemingly looking difficult for Motherwell, the ten men fought tooth and nail to stay in the game. Ward came out of his net to close the angle for Maeda before O’Donnell found himself with space on the edge of the area but sent his strike over the bar.
Yang made sure of the points with ten to play. A long ball from a goal kick wasn’t dealt with by the Motherwell defence, and Yang found himself in behind and through on goal before knocking the ball over Ward to seal the win.
A 3-1 win for Celtic, probably not a true reflection of proceedings, closed the gap to Hearts at the top for O’Neill’s side, with Motherwell remaining fourth in the table going into their match against Hibernian next weekend.
Motherwell Team: Ward, Sparrow, O’Donnell, McGinn, Longelo, Watt, Fadinger, Slattery, Said, Just, Maswanhise.
Motherwell Subs: Oxborough, Gordon, McGhee, McAllister, Priestman, Halliday, Ross, Nicholson, Bjørgolfsson.
