2018-03-18: Motherwell 0-0 Celtic, SP

Match Pictures | Matches: 2017 – 2018 | 2017-18 Pictures

Trivia

• Celtic go 10pts in front; Sevco lose the day before.
• Kristoffer Ajer receives a call up to Norway time for first time, so congratulations. A measure of his development & progress, with no contract talks to be raised.
• Celtic could make a summer move for Kyriakos Papadopoulos, with the Greek centre back expected to leave Hamburg during the close season
• Celtic are reportedly considering exercising their right-to-buy option with French striker Odsonne Edouard. The Old Firm goal hero is on loan from PSG but the Hoops have first refusal on the 20-year-old forward.
• Neil Lennon has described sectarianism as a “form of racism” following claims instances of religious prejudice are being swept under the carpet again in Scottish football.
• Tony Ralston sent out on loan to Dundee Utd.
• Proposed: Celtic to face Liverpool for Scott Brown testimonial
• Police Scotland have raked in an astonishing half a million pounds on policing Old Firm games in the last two years. Between April 17, 2016 to December, 30 2017, Rangers, Celtic, the SFA and SPFl shelled out a total of £555,568.80 to keep fans safe inside Ibrox and Parkhead when the two teams clash, £40-70k a game.
• OBFA: Labour MSP James Kelly’s Bill to scrap the Offensive Behaviour at Football and Threatening Communications (Scotland) has passed in its final stage at the Scottish Parliament, and the punitive & explotitive bill has been replealed against the wishes of various SNP mandarins. A great success for the many in Scottish football (not least The Celtic Trust) who campaigned against the injustice of the act which sadly caused distress for many innocent supporters.
• Renowned British physicist Professor Stephen Hawking – one of the world’s finest scientific minds – has died at the age of 76.
• Ireland win the 6 Nations Grand Slam, congratulations.
• International break in the next week.

Review

(El Salto of KDS)
Disappointing performance from start to finish, we offered the opposition too many chances to get attempts at our goal in the first half

Also, we struggled to create anything substantial in the first half.

Second half, it was mostly attack v desperate defence and we never really looked like breaching them, although Sinclair most certainly should have.

The so called harsh red, Thomson sent him off for a stamp, not the petulant kick at Brown, all the afters, ie Browns push and Kipres kick, were as a result of the stamp.

How the punters on SKY and Sportscene can dismiss this stamp as harsh is beyond me.

Also, McHugh absolutely cleaned Rogic out on the touchline and he had already been booked, I think it was harsh on us that he wasn't given a second yellow.

Anyway, lead extended to 10 points.

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Motherwell 0 – 0 Celtic: Ten-man Well earn hard-fought point
https://www.scotsman.com/sport/football/competitions/premiership/motherwell-0-0-celtic-ten-man-well-earn-hard-fought-point-1-4707854
For a second successive Sunday, Celtic found themselves involved in a contest where a team reduced to 10 men rallied themselves impressively to secure a favourable result against the odds.
This time around, the shoe was on the other foot for the Scottish champions. Having beaten Rangers 3-2 while a man down last week, they were forced to settle for a draw against a gritty Motherwell side who had Cedric Kipre controversially sent off by referee Craig Thomson four minutes before half-time.

Even before kick-off yesterday, Thomson’s approval rating among Motherwell supporters was already at the kind of level which would have political pundits predicting an electoral wipe out for any party unfortunate enough to be polling such low numbers.

He did nothing to improve his status in their eyes when he gave Kipre his marching orders when the French defender flicked a retaliatory boot towards Celtic captain Scott Brown. It was the fifth red card Thomson has shown to a Motherwell player this season and the second to Kipre who was also sent off in the Betfred Cup Final against Celtic at Hampden in November.
To the great credit of Stephen Robinson’s team, they refused to feel sorry for themselves and dug in for a point which maintains their hopes of overhauling Hearts in the race for a place in the top six of the Premiership.
After the heady nature of their Old Firm triumph at Ibrox, this was a flat performance from Celtic but perhaps understandable in the circumstances. They are now 10 points clear at the top of the table, with a game in hand, as they close in on a seventh consecutive title.
Kipre’s dismissal came towards the end of an opening 45 minutes in which Motherwell had caused some real moments of concern for a reshuffled Celtic defence.

With Kieran Tierney sidelined by a calf injury which will also rule him out of Scotland duty during the international break, Callum McGregor was deployed on the left of a back four which saw Jack Hendry in the other full-back role.
The central pairing of Kristoffer Ajer and Dedryck Boyata displayed occasional signs of uncertainty and vulnerability which offered plenty of encouragement for Robinson’s side.
Scott Bain, retaining his place in goal for Celtic after his impressive debut at Ibrox the previous Sunday, was the busier ‘keeper in the first half.
He had no difficulty in clutching a 22 yard shot from Chris Cadden but was extended fully to keep out a well directed header from Curtis Main after Boyata completely misjudged the flight of Elliot Frear’s cross.

Motherwell found another gap in the Celtic defence when Main knocked the ball down into the path of strike partner Ryan Bowman whose shot was too close to Bain to cause him any great anxiety.
Celtic were struggling to find any fluency on a difficult Fir Park playing surface but Hendry might have done better than scuff a shot wide of the target after getting on the end of Olivier Ntcham’s corner.
Motherwell continued to play with a directness and tempo which allowed them to ask questions of any hesitancy in the visitors’ backline. There was more work for Bain to do when he threw himself to his right to save a thunderous 30 yard free-kick from Main, before Motherwell threatened again when Hendry reacted smartly to block a shot from Frear.
James Forrest looked the most menacing outlet for Celtic in an attacking sense and the winger forced Trevor Carson into his first notable save of the afternoon in the 29th minute. Tom Rogic found Forrest on the right and he weaved his way into the penalty area and saw his shot smartly diverted wide by the Motherwell ‘keeper.
Motherwell responded by fashioning another opening which Richard Tait volleyed wildly over but the hosts saw their attempts to build real momentum stalled by the red card for Kipre.

The big defender, having conceded a free-kick with a foul on Brown, reacted to a shove from the Celtic captain by flicking out a boot at him. Referee Thomson reached for his top pocket immediately and was in no doubt it was a sending-off offence.
Motherwell’s sense of injustice had to be quickly replaced by a focus on how they would attempt to cope with being short-handed for the rest of the contest. Predictably enough, they found themselves hemmed into their own half for long spells of the second half with Carson’s workload increasing significantly.
He made a comfortable save to keep out Forrest’s outside of the boot attempt to guide a shot beyond him, then made two far more difficult stops to deny efforts from Rogic who was growing ever more influential in proceedings.
For all of the dominance of possession and territory they were enjoying, however, Celtic still remained below the standards of sharpness and creativity set under Brendan Rodgers.
He sent on Scott Sinclair and Stuart Armstrong in a bid to inject greater purpose and penetration to his side, then played his final card with the introduction of Patrick Roberts. The on-loan Manchester City winger, sidelined since November by injury, almost made the breakthrough with eight minutes remaining when his shot from around 22 yards smacked off the top of Carson’s crossbar.
It would have been exceptionally harsh on Motherwell to lose it now, having defended so heroically, but they had to survive two more close calls. After the home side had a penalty claim turned down when Main went down under a challenge from Hendry, Sinclair should have scored on the resulting counter attack in the 89th minute but delayed his shot which allowed Tait to get in a crucial block. The final act saw Carson make his finest save of the afternoon in stoppage time when he touched over Moussa Dembele’s close range header.
MOTHERWELL: Carson, Kipre, Aldred, Dunne; Tait, Cadden, McHugh, Campbell, Frear (Hendrie 69); Main, Bowman. Subs not used: Griffiths, Bigirimana, Petravicius, Newell, Turnbull, Maguire.
CELTIC: Bain, Hendry, Ajer, Boyata, McGregor; Brown, Ntcham (Armstrong 60); Forrest (Roberts 68), Rogic, Edouard (Sinclair 60); Dembele. Subs not used: De Vries, Lustig, Compper, Musonda.

BBC

Battling Motherwell secured a fine draw with Premiership leaders Celtic despite having defender Cedric Kipre sent off in the first half.
The home side had the better of the early chances, with Curtis Main twice forcing good saves from Scott Bain.
But Kipre was sent off four minutes before the break for reacting to a push from Celtic captain Scott Brown.
Celtic dominated thereafter, but excellent defending and good saves from goalkeeper Trevor Carson denied them.
The draw was enough to extend Celtic's lead over Rangers at the top of the table to 10 points – and their unbeaten run at Fir Park to nine visits.
Kilmarnock, though, are the biggest beneficiaries of Motherwell's failure to secure a first win in 10 meetings with the Glasgow side since December 2015.
It means Steve Clarke's fifth-placed side have secured a spot in the top six before the Premiership splits into two for the final rounds of fixtures.
Celtic started brightly without seriously stretching Well, but the home side became increasingly influential as the first half wore on.
Chris Cadden tested Bain from long distance, but the shot was comfortably held.
Elliot Frear produced a searching cross that Main nodded towards goal, but Bain saved again when more power in the header might have broken the deadlock.
Ryan Bowman was next with a drilled effort, but again the shot lacked the direction to trouble Bain. It was increasingly encouraging for Motherwell.
Tom Rogic was at the heart of most of Celtic's best moments; the Australia midfielder showed tremendous poise and balance to create space on the edge of the box but curled his shot narrowly off target.
Dedryck Boyata looked uncertain at times again in the opening half and, when the Belgian defender conceded a free-kick on the edge of the penalty area, Main drilled it towards goal, but the composed Bain had his angles correct and tipped it wide.
Rogic sent James Forrest on his way, but the winger's angled shot was blocked by Carson, his first direct shot to deal with.
Motherwell seemed to have Celtic's measure, but the game changed completely after a clash between Brown and Kipre, who was also sent off against Celtic in November's League Cup final.
The Celtic captain won the ball but shoved the centre-half as he rose from the ground. Kipre's response was naive and, after he kicked out, he was duly ordered off to the fury of the Motherwell bench.
From there, it seemed all about the visitors finding a route to the crucial opening goal.
Carson did well to save a Rogic drive, Moussa Dembele sent a header narrowly over and substitute Patrick Roberts cut inside and fired a shot off the top of the crossbar.
Stuart Armstrong's curling effort towards the far post had Carson beaten but the ball crept inches wide.
The was still time for more drama. Main claimed penalty, appeals that were ignored.
Celtic broke at speed, with Scott Sinclair in on Carson, but the goalkeeper saved superbly, with the frustrated Dembele waiting in the centre for a pass from the winger.
The goalkeeper – a January transfer target for Celtic, who has been called into the Northern Ireland squad – again reacted in the last seconds to tip over Dembele's downward header.
Motherwell resembled a boxer hanging out for a decision on points, but they stood firm to frustrate the league leaders and earn a valuable point.