Celtic 4 - 0 Motherwell: Decisive win relegated to the role of cup dress-rehearsal

Published on Sunday 15 May 2011 17:12

EVEN before this game began, Celtic knew that they could do no more than go for the win and leave the rest to fate. Within minutes of kick-off, as news spread that Rangers had raced into an unassailable lead, the probability that their efforts would be futile had become a certainty.

Such circumstances often provoke dejection, but in this case what we got was a remarkable display of defiance - both from the players, who applied themselves to the quest for goals with admirable self-discipline, and from the supporters, who hailed their team at the end with almost as much zeal as if they had actually become champions rather than falling a point short.

It surely helped that this, besides being the league decider, was also a dress-rehearsal for the Scottish Cup final. With Saturday's match against the same opponents in mind, Celtic knew that, no matter if the outcome of this game would count for nothing in the context of the championship, it could well be highly significant in terms of the one piece of silverware which remains to be won.

Motherwell manager Stuart McCall had said he would field a weakened side, and he was true to his word. Of his first-choice players, Darren Randolph, Steve Jennings and Jamie Murphy were on the bench, while John Sutton and Stephen Craigan were omitted altogether. But this was a weakened Celtic team, too, with Beram Kayal out through injury and Kris Commons, their most impressive player in recent weeks, suspended after his dismissal at Tynecastle on Wednesday night.

In the absence of those two influential playmakers, almost every member of the home team took it upon himself to seek scoring chances. It wasn't reckless or at all chaotic: quite the reverse. It was a disciplined and relentless bid to press the life out of Motherwell, and to squeeze the last drops of joy out of a title race which, after those early goals at Rugby Park, was destined to end in bitter disappointment.

Motherwell showed their own brand of defiance to remain competitive for so long, and might even have got proceedings off to a surprising start, as a Steve Jones shot went just wide of the left post in the opening minute. Once the first Celtic goal went in, however, the only question was how big the winning margin would be. Gary Hooper, who had come close to the breakthrough several times, picked up a ball close to the penalty spot. His first attempt on goal was blocked, but he reacted more quickly than the host of defenders around him and shot home depite Lee Hollis getting a hand to the ball.

Celtic showed no sign of slacking off after that goal, and with half-time looming Georgios Samaras grabbed the second. From around 30 yards out he passed to Charlie Mulgrew on the left of the box and then continued his run. Mulgrew found the Greek with a first-time return, and Samaras side-footed home from eight yards.

The imminence of the cup final also ensured that players from both teams would be desperate to claim a place in their respective squads, and that was particularly evident in the hunger shown by Celtic's first two substitutes, both of whom scored. Shaun Maloney, who had come on for Emilio Izaguirre at the start of the second half, nearly scored within a minute of the restart, curving a shot just wide. Minutes later he was more accurate, driving forward and then shooting home with his left foot.

Paddy McCourt was given 20 minutes less than Maloney in which to impress, but he too made up for lost time after coming on for James Forrest. He tends to avoid simple goals, but made an exception on this occasion, scoring from a central position in the box after a Samaras shot had been blocked and rebounded to him.

McCourt displayed some of his trademark trickery after that goal, and Celtic might well have added to their tally. Motherwell can take some heart from their failure to do so, for which Hollis deserves substantial credit, but the defiance they showed in keeping the score within respectable limits was dwarfed by Celtic's refusal to let events elsewhere affect their play. Neil Lennon could hardly have asked for more from his players, or from the club's followers. Having demonstrated their support for the manager throughout the game, those fans did so again, all the more resoundingly, at its conclusion, singing You'll Never Walk Alone as the manager saluted them.

At the end of a season which has seen Lennon vilified, threatened and attacked, it was an impressive display of solidarity, one which must have had many people thinking what Lennon told his players: If the Celtic fans are like this today, think what they will be like if they actually win the Scottish Cup.

Celtic: Forster, Izaguirre (Maloney 46), Majstorovic, Loovens, Wilson, Mulgrew, Brown, Ki, Forrest (McCourt 66), Samaras (Juarez 75), Hooper. Subs not used: Zaluska, Cha, Rogne, D Murphy.

Motherwell: Hollis, Hammell, Gunning, Hutchinson (Page 66), Saunders, Humphrey (McHugh 71), Hateley, Carswell, Jones, Forbes, Jeffers (Casagolda 74). Subs not used: Randolph, Jennings, Pollock, J Murphy,