Motherwell suffered heartbreak against Celtic on Wednesday evening, as Celtic snatched a late winner following one of the most controversial refereeing decisions Scottish football has ever seen.
Elliot Watt gave the hosts the lead before Daizen Maeda popped up with the equaliser. Benjamin Nygren fired Celtic back in front as he found the top corner in the second-half. With Motherwell chasing, Liam Gordon thought he found the goal that would earn his side a deserved point.
But when John Beaton miraculously pointed to the spot, having been to the VAR monitor, Kelechi Iheanacho sent Calum Ward the wrong way from the penalty spot to score the winner with the last kick of the game.
Jens Berthel Askou made some changes to the side. Tom Sparrow was brought in from the start to replace Liam Gordon, with Johnny Koutroumbis earning his first start since January in place of the ineligible Stephen Welsh. Lukas Fadinger returned to action following the birth of his child and took the place of Oscar Priestman.
As Motherwell lined up, looking to re-create that famous night in December against Celtic, the change of shape was clear, with the Steelmen going to a back four.
The Motherwell manager said earlier in the week that Celtic had a lot to lose, and the title-chasers looked for an early lead in the match.
The Steelmen started on the front foot, and Elliot Watt gave them a deserved lead after 18 minutes. Daizen Maeda equalised before the break. Just before the hour mark, Benjamin Nygren had Parkhead in front and heading for three points until ‘Well stormed back. With the visitor’s goal under siege, substitute Liam Gordon drew the sides level with six minutes remaining.
From then until deep into injury time Motherwell looked more likely to find a winner until VAR intervened with 97 minutes on the clock. The referee saw nothing wrong when Sam Nicholson and Auston Trusty challenged a high ball in the home box. But after checking the monitor, John Beaton adjudged Nicholson’s elbow caught the Celtic defender, and literally with the last kick of the ball, Kelechi Iheanacho sent Calum Ward the wrong way from the penalty spot to provide Celtic with three points that appeared well beyond them.
For the second time in five days Fir Park was packed to capacity and rocking in anticipation of another epic match with so much at stake for both teams.
With Stephen Welsh unable to face his parent club and Paul McGinn out injured, Jens Berthal Askou was forced into rejigging his defensive line-up.
Johnny Koutroumbis came in to form a central partnership with Stephen O’Donnell, with Tom Sparrow recalled to the right side. Following his paternity leave, Lukas Fadinger returned to the midfield with Oscar Priestman joining Liam Gordon on the bench.
Motherwell started on the front foot, and Watt’s cross almost found O’Donnell at the back of the six-yard box. Callum Slattery then had an attempt from 20 yards, but the ball sailed over the bar.
After 18 minutes the Fir Park side made the breakthrough. Watt’s sweeping pass found Sparrow on the right touchline. He did well to control the ball before whipping it into the six-yard box. Although Auston Trusty got his head to the ball, he could only direct it to the edge of the box, where Watt’s left foot sent it back towards the Celtic goal, bouncing past the diving Viljami Sinisalo to put Motherwell one up.
That stunned the Parkhead side, and their huge support was silenced. It was nearly worse when another Sparrow cross found Tawanda Maswanhise, but he couldn’t get any power or direction in his header.
Celtic looked devoid of ideas in trying to break down the home side, and when they finally got into the box after 34 minutes, Daizen Maeda dragged the ball across goal and well wide of target.
Similar to the Hearts game, Motherwell appeared to be heading to a half-time lead when Martin O’Neill’s men grabbed the equaliser.
Slattery had a chance to shoot from the edge of the Celtic box before losing possession. As the visitors raced to the other end, the well-rounded midfielder tried to redeem himself. But this time when the ball was fed through to Maeda, the Japan international’s low drive across Ward hit the base of the keeper’s left-hand post before rolling into the net to even things up for the second half.
That equaliser gave Celtic a lift, and they started the second half with more intent. It was the Steelmen who should have regained the lead five minutes after the restart.
Slattery’s measures split the Celtic defence, allowing Just to run through on goal. But with the ball on his favoured left foot, he decided to check inside, allowing Trusty time to recover.
Four minutes in, there were loud appeals for a penalty after Slattery raced into the box but seemed to lose his footing as he skipped past a couple of defenders as John Beaton waved play on.
Motherwell’s early pressure on the visitor’s goal counted for nothing when Celtic took the lead in the 57th minute. There seemed little danger as Celtic had possession at the edge of the home box until Hynjun Yang laid the ball back to Nygren, and from 25 yards, his left-foot shot flew high into Ward’s top corner.
Celtic then pressed for another goal to tie up the three points they desperately needed to keep in touch with Hearts.
The Fir Park men were still striving to create openings, and after 67 minutes Maswanhise’s run into the box and pass ended with Slattery firing the ball over the bar. That was his last piece of action as he made way for the introduction of Regan Charles-Cook.
In the 79th minute, the Celtic goal had a narrow escape. Watt’s deflected shot smacked off the face of the crossbar, with Sinisalo ending up in the net. The keeper recovered to prevent Maswanhise’s header from the rebound crossing his goal line as Celtic fans breathed a sigh of relief.
The Celtic keeper then produced a great diving save to push away Just’s fierce drive, but the pressure remained on his goal. And six minutes from time, Motherwell deservedly found the equaliser.
Twice Sinisalo blocked Maswanhise’s attempts at goal, but when his second shot rebounded to Liam Gordon, with virtually his first touch he thumped the ball into the net from eight yards to once again stun Celtic.
After that, only one team looked like finding a winner until seven minutes into additional time when once again VAR intervened to punish the Steelmen. There were no claims for a penalty as Sam Nicholson and Trusty challenged a high ball in the home box, and the referee was happy to award a throw-in.
However, after a long discussion with the VAR team, John Beaton was instructed to review the incident on the touchline monitor. There was only one outcome and a penalty, penalising Nicholson for handball.
With the last kick of the game and 98 minutes on the clock, Iheanacho rolled the ball into the corner of Ward’s net for three points with Motherwell left questioning the decision.
Motherwell Team: Ward, Sparrow, Koutroumbis, O’Donnell, Longelo, Watt, Fadinger, Slattery, Said, Just, Maswanhise.
Motherwell Subs: Connelly, Gordon, Thomson, Ross, Booth, Priestman, Nicholson, Charles-Cook, Hendry.
