Motherwell went down 3-1 to Celtic at Fir Park but there was no complaint from the home crowd about the effort on show.
Despite the loss of a goal in the first minute Motherwell steadied the ship and recovered midway through the half. Celtic immediately regained the advantage but they had to wait until added time to relax.
Stephen Frail opted to start Luke Armstrong up front and Dominic Thomson at left back as Harry Paton and Tony Watt stood down.
Celtic were given the gift of an early goal when Tony Ralston’s cross was headed home by Maeda as Marvin Kaleta’s challenge was ineffective.
Fears of a home collapse were eased as the Steelmen settled into the game. The leveller arrived following Thomson’s cross from the left. Both Armstrong and Carter-Vickers failed to connect and the ball was not controlled by Auston Trusty. It fell nicely for Armstrong to fire into the net.
The lead was soon back with the visitors. Luke McCowan was the provider of a tempting ball across the face of goal for Adam Idah to sweet it beyond Ellery Balcombe from close range.
Motherwell got a few breaks in the second period. VAR correctly chalked off a couple of ‘goals’ as offsides were identified and Balcombe stood up to several goal bound attempts. The best of those was a finger tip toch on an Idah shot that sent the ball to safety off the post.
Stand-in manager Frail used all five substitutes to relieve tired limbs and by the end he had an attacking formation on the field. But Celtic’s dominance continued and they got the bonus of an added time goal when Jota scored to give the travelling support reason to cheer.
Motherwell have a fortnight to wait for the arrival of Ross County for a league game that will have an important part to play in determining Motherwell’s season. Will a new manager be in place?
Motherwell 1 Celtic 2
Attendance 8,293
Team: Balcombe, Kaleta (Paton 37), O’Donnell, Gordon, Blaney, Thomson (Zdravkovski 75), Halliday (Dixon75), Sparrow, Nicholson (Wilson 62), Maswanhise (Plage 62), Armstrong
Sunday 2 February 2025