Celtic verdict: The good comes out on top for change after split-personality display

All forms of Celtic life this season were represented in a rollercoaster encounter for Neil Lennon’s men as they defeated Motherwell 2-1.

Odsonne Edouard celebrates after scoring to make it 2-0 to Celtic in their win at home to Motherwell. (Photo by Alan Harvey / SNS Group)

And all that ultimately differentiated it from so many of the dunts they have suffered in this desperate campaign is that defensive wobbles didn’t undo earlier efforts for once. Only by the slenderest margin, Diego Laxalt acrobatically hooking a Harry Smith header off the line in the final seconds of added time. Even allowing for the collective anxiety that has consumed Celtic so often at junctures in the past six month, it was extraordinary to see their latest bout of the jitters following a first hour when their visitors could not cope with the home team’s brio and fluency. A two-goal lead, it should have been so much more.

Yet, when it wasn’t, and when a deflected Allan Campbell effort ballooned up an over Scott Bain in the 66th minute, the little devils that seem to have taken up residence in the Celtic players’ ears started whispering their bleak nothings. The fact Celtic survived, with a couple of balls flashed across the front of their goal hacked away in Sunday league fashion, might be considered progress in that it allowed them to register back-to-back league wins for the first time in 2021.

Set against that, with Odsonne Edouard restored to the switched-on sleek performer he can be, and Lennon men’s exhibiting incisiveness and drive that allowed them to lay seige to the Motherwell goal for long spells, they really should have backed up the 4-0 midweek success at Kilmarnock with an equally emphatic scoreline. They moved the ball slickly in the early stages, and achieved the rarity of scoring within seconds – 110 of them on the clock when Stephen Welsh threw himself to meet an outswinging David Turnbull corner and smash a header high past Liam Kelly.

The Motherwell keeper rarely had much respite in the half hour that followed. In this passage, it was like it was the old Celtic, the nine-in-a-row team, that were setting about overpowering a potentially problematic opponent - the Lanarkshire club having lost only one of the five games under the charge of new manager Graham Alexander. The impression seemed confirmed when, after dealing with a little spell from their visitors before the break, they were back on it early in the second period and doubled their advantage with a superbly-worked goal that continued the scoring renaissance of Edouard. The Frenchman has now netted nine times in his past ten outings. His latest strike, a 17th of the campaign, was of the quality he so regularly exhibited in bagging 29 goals last season. Great interplay between Callum McGregor and Edouard teased space for striker to spin and, with slide-rule accuracy, bury a low drive just inside Kelly’s right-hand post. It should have opened the floodgates. Instead, Celtic ended struggling to avoid one more mortifying leak.

Celtic: Bain; Kenny, Welsh, Ajer, Taylor (Laxalt 71); Brown (Ismaila 71); Rogic, Turnbull (Elyounoussi 80), McGregor; Ajeti (Griffiths 68), Edouard. Subs: Barkas, Duffy, Klimala, Johnston, Henderson.

Motherwell: Kelly, O’Donnell, Mugabi, Lamie, Carroll; Campbell, Crawford (O’Hara 68), Maguire (Smith 80); Long, Cole, Watt (Roberts 68). Subs: Morrison, Hastie, Polworth, Cornelius, Johnston, Magloire.

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