Motherwell 0 - 3 Celtic: debut double for Celtic youngster Tony Watt

SCORERS: Watt 63, 66 - Cha 83

That is precisely what happened to 18-year-old Tony Watt of Celtic yesterday, the youngster from Coatbridge lighting up Fir Park with an excellent scoring display that put his team on the road to a comfortable victory.

Although Motherwell had contested things, Celtic had dominated play for an hour without scoring, then, with his first kick of the ball, Watt ended the drought and then confirmed the victory with a second strike shortly afterwards, Cha Du-Ri heading the third that took the points to Parkhead.

The scoreline put a dent in Motherwell’s campaign to finish at least third in the SPL, while Watt’s sunburst arrival is another indication that the Parkhead club is unearthing its own Scottish talent following James Forrest’s arrival on the scene a year ago.

Motherwell’s ambitions were summed up by a banner in the crowd exhorting the club to take its colours into the Champions League, but that aim will now take slightly longer to achieve.

It did not help manager Stuart McCall’s cause that he was forced to send out a slightly weaker team due to the suspensions of Jon Page and Keith Lasley. Captain Stevie Hammell and Steve Jennings were back from their enforced break, however, the latter a much relieved man after the ruling during the week that he would not face criminal charges after an inquiry into an alleged betting coup.

With the championship won and season otherwise over, Celtic might have been expected to take things easy, but there is still a psychologically important barrier to overcome – to avoid any talk of a title won by Rangers’ default, Celtic must still finish more than ten points clear of their great rivals and, on this form, it seems a matter of when, not if, the target is reached. A win in next week’s Old Firm match would indeed ensure that the league trophy comes free of all such considerations.

Manager Neil Lennon made a few changes to give some of his squad a rest, while the whole team got a “rest” from his touchline exhortations as he began his two-match banishment to the stand.

Lukasz Zaluska got a rare start in goal, Pawel Brozek began up front, Emilio Izaguirre came in at left back and Gary Hooper donned the captain’s armband. Victor Wanyama started at right-back with Cha Du-Ri on the right of midfield and much of Celtic’s initial threat came down their wing, with Wanyama often their most attacking player.

Kris Commons had an early drive from 30 yards but it went wide, before Brozek headed well over Darren Randolph’s bar. Wanyama’s touch from a free-kick by Ki Sung-Yeung also went wide.

The Celtic defence coped admirably with the little that came their way and Motherwell certainly had their share of the midfield battle, although their play in the final third was unsatisfactory.

It wasn’t quite one-way traffic, for Motherwell were dangerous on the break as Chris Humphrey showed twice around the half-hour mark, Zaluska saving well on both occasions, and particularly from the first volley. The winger was Motherwell’s best player on the day, although Steve Jennings put in a powerful shift, too.

Wanyama set up Commons with a powerful run and neat backwards pass but the Scottish internationalist did not connect well, his shot heading wide, and Brozek then missed the proverbial sitter after being put through, again by Wanyama.

The half ended with the sight of Ki limping off with what looked a serious leg injury. Paddy McCourt came on in his place and went on to show that he can be a terrific provider of goals.

Motherwell started the second half by exerting pressure on Celtic for a change, a good spell of play ending with Omar Daley feeding Nicky Law for a shot that spiralled wide. Less than a minute later Law made room for himself on the edge of the Celtic pentaly area but fired straight at Zaluska.

Celtic were soon back on top, however, and Cha should have done much better from a superb McCourt pass that filleted the home defence, the Korean caught in two minds and none as he wasted a glorious chance with only Randolph to beat.

Brozek’s less-than-edifying match ended after an hour, Watt replacing him, while Motherwell’s Henrik Ojamaa simultaneously came on for Daley.

It was the Celtic youngster who made an immediate and devastating impact with two fine goals in the seven minutes after his arrival. The first came after 63 minutes when Mulgrew’s clearance was headed on by Cha to the marauding Wanyama and his cross to the far post looked to have gone too far until Watt’s volley from an acute angle went in off Randolph.

A little more than two minutes later and Watt had a superb second. McCourt found Ledley with a pass that begged the midfielder to go on and shoot. Instead he drew the defence while Watt peeled off into space, then collected Ledley’s adroit pass and slammed the ball low to Randolph’s right.

Motherwell briefly threatened to come back into the game but Celtic’s third goal after 83 minutes was simplicity itself and ended the home side’s resistance. Ledley found McCourt on the left and the midfielder cut inside before floating a cross over the packed penalty area to where Cha was rushing in to bullet in his header, Randolph making a valiant but vain effort to save.

Though Watt kept looking for the hat-trick, that was the end of the scoring, and Celtic’s young generation march on.

Motherwell: Randolph, Hateley, Hutchinson, Clancy, Hammell, Humphrey, Jennings, Carswell (Murphy 67), Law, Higdon, Daley (Ojamaa 60). Subs not used: Hollis, Saunders, McHugh, Forbes, Halsman.

Celtic: Zaluska, Wanyama, Rogne, Mulgrew, Izaguirre, Cha, Ki (McCourt 41), Ledley, Commons (Lustig 77), Brozek (Watt 59), Hooper. Subs not used: Forster, Stokes, Bangura, Blackman.

Man of the match: Tony Watt (Celtic)

He was only on the pitch for little more than half an hour but, when you score two cracking goals on your debut, you deserve the award, especially when you’re just 18.