The few 'Well fans in the corner of the stadium saw their team set up to keep the score down but Celtic plugged away and they could easily have scored more. Two goals in either half hardly tells the tale. Craig Gordon in the home goal picked up his win bonus without having to make a save.
We started with Pearson, Watt and Ramsden on the pitch as the injured Lasley, suspended Ojamaa and Thomas made way. The game started as it would finish with the home team camped in our last third.
Inside the opening five minutes our back five (at times a back six or seven) had headed several crosses clear from our six yard box. A 25 yard free kick from Stokes whistled close to the bar but our ‘keeper had his first involvement after 20 minutes when he had to come off his line for a clearing punch.
Celtic scored twice before the break. In 25 minutes after the second cross from Stokes following a corner from our right, van Dijk rose high at the far post to nod the ball into the net. It was hardly a surprise such had been their complete control of the play.
We then made a few isolated charges to the other end of the park. One saw Pearson release a chipped cross that came close to sneaking in at the postage stamp – it was reminiscent of Kirk’s goal in the ’91 semi final replay!
The second also came from a cross from Stokes, this time Griffiths helped himself to a glancing header from 10 yards out and our vanishingly small chance of a point disappeared.
Thomas replaced Ainsworth at the break to and he almost got us a goal after two minutes. He let loose a decent shot from 17 yards but a deflection carried the ball into the side net.
Celtic continued to dominate and they were unlucky not to add to their tally when Johansen stuck the post before Izaguirre rattled the bar from five yards. Twardzik produced a couple of decent saves as the game entered the last quarter. O’Brien and Johansen were withdrawn after a clash of heads and Craig Moore made his long awaited return.
The third came from Lustig with a low sweep into the corner and another followed when he dived full length to bullet a header home.
We're off to Tannadice on Saturday in need of a miracle.
Celtic 2 Motherwell 0
Team: Twardzik, Reid, Carswell, Ramsden, McManus, Ainsworth(Thomas 45), Sutton, O'Brien (Moore 70), Law, Watt, Pearson