I really dislike Motherwell. Its a feeling I've had for them going back a long time. Whatever particular heartache Celtic are putting me through Motherwell are always ready to add to it. Tonight they very nearly added to their record of good results against us but this time they pushed the self-destruct button....

There is no easy way to say this. We were awful tonight. Shockingly bad. In recent games much has been made of Celtic as an attacking force. "Ok", say some folk, "we're bad at the back but look how good we are going forward". Tonight we didn't even have that crumb of comfort. Apart from a ten minute spell at the start of the second half we didn't look like doing much - an even in those ten minutes it looked like we were going to power our way through rather than any kind of slick passing football.

I can barely bring myself to even type this up but here we go....

Virgo started at right back tonight. Where was the Mr Telfer. No idea. But it meant a return for McManus to the centre of defence. And Camara got chosen ahead of Wallace. On the face of it a good decision. At least before the game. The usual suspects lined up elsewhere.

Celtic seemed to start brightly enough - runs from Magic and Petrov with no real end product. But calamity was to befall in the 10th minute when Boruc stumbled coming out for the easiest of crosses and it allowed the 'Well attacker to nod the ball home. At first I thought there must be a foul but nope - he messed it up all on his own. Boruc seems to be suffering from the same kind of malaise thats been affecting his team mates recently. Lets hope he's is not falling prey to the curse thats afflicted all Celtic keepers of recent times (Good for spells, Mince during crucial periods) and that he is indeed the kind of keeper we've all been hoping for recently.

1-0 down after ten minutes. Another goal conceded and another game to try and win from a difficult position.

Celtic's equaliser was not to come until the 28th minute when Maloney trapped the ball beautifully in the middle of the pitch, took off on a run and slipped the ball through to Magic for an effort not unlike the one he scored against the same opposition recently. 

There was a scare in the 35th minute when McDonald brushed off McManus all too easily and forced Boruc into a fine save. There was an effort from the corner from Foran but he flashed it over.

Boruc was called into action again shortly thereafter when Virgo was caught out of position and he dived to his right to make a great one-handed save from a close-range header.

The second half came and as stated started well. WGS had obviously kicked a few arses but it was a false dawn. Efforts from Magic (on the turn but just wide) and Nakamura from distance (straight at the keeper) had hopes of a turn-around in this half but it soon fizzled out. A look at the corner count (which must have stood at 200,000 for Motherwell and zip for Celtic) told its own story. They harried and pressured and we never got any kind of game going.

Subs saw Thompson come on for Nakamura but his contribution mainly consisted of kicking people. Pearson came on for Camara and maybe did ok but nothing spectacular.

The winner for Celtic when it came, did so from a daft mistake from Corrigan in the Motherwell defence. With Magic bearing down on him he played a backpass that forced his keeper to save it, else it was going in. Red card anyone? An indirect free-kick was awarded and it was from this that Maloney dispatched the pall with no little power and a lot of accuracy into the top corner of the net passed the on-rushing Well defence.

Keane came towards the end to run down the clock but it was no more than that.

Maloney himself said it best afterwards when he warned that if there was no improvement in performance Celtic would lose the league. At least if the players know something is wrong they might be able to do something about it.

Here hoping.

Ratings

Boruc 5
Great saves, shocking gaffes.

Virgo 5
Some good passes but positional sense not right for the right back role.

McManus 5
Hardly even noticed him on the park. Not a good sign.

Varga 6
More commanding than his other partners in the Sieve but that wouldn't have taken much.

Camara 5
Not bad, not great.

Maloney 7
Tried but only a couple of things came off for him - luckily they both led to goals!

Lennon 6
Ran and ran but not being effective these days. Must miss the days of a 5-man midfield.

Petrov 7
Slightly more effective than recent times.

Nakamura 5
We all know he has talent but can be frustrating at times - like tonight.

Hartson 8
Worked tirelessly - up front and in defence when required. Lay offs were good tonight but got very little help from the ref. Misses the final due to a booking but his celebration for the second goal shows how much the club means to him.

Zurawski 7
Needs players around him to play to a better standard and we'll see the best of him.

Subs:-

Thompson 4
Just didn't do a thing.

Pearson 5
Looked more comfortable than Camara in the time he had.

Keane
Only on to run down the clock.

Man Of The Match
Hartson - for effort and heart once again.

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