Why Celtic's winning goal was particularly frustrating for Motherwell boss Stephen Hammell

Motherwell Manager Steven Hammell during a cinch Premiership match between Celtic and Motherwell at Celtic Park, on October 01, 2022, in Glasgow, Scotland. (Photo by Craig Williamson / SNS Group)

The Japanese midfielder scored what proved to be the clinching strike on 64 minutes from a corner routine, Jota passing the ball into space just outside the box and finding Hatate in space to fire the ball beyond Liam Kelly.

Hammell said that he had pointed out Celtic’s corner routine to his players in the build-up to the match and, despite being proud of his players’ efforts, wished that they had been able to snuff out Celtic’s set-piece routine.

"It's something we'd highlighted,” Hammell said of the goal. “It's a corner routine that they do – they'll take two out and miss one and hit that space at the edge of the box. We've showed it – they've done it quickly, which they've showed, so it shouldn't have been a surprise to us. He's got to score from 25 yards, which is difficult, but that's the difference, the big moments in the game."

On the match itself, Hammell continued: “I felt especially in the latter part of the game we posed some threats there, but in the big moments and the fine details and the fine chances when you come to places like this need to be better. I feel that that was the difference.

“They were hanging on, they saw the game out well, they were clever. As much as we know they return the ball to play quick, that was mirrored slowly towards the end, but it shows you where we were at and where they were at at that stage of the game.

“Ultimately though, again it has been an acceptable performance without resulting in any points unfortunately.”