A joy to
watch. Motherwell completely outplayed
Celtic for a deserved 2-0 win at Fir Park.
Motherwell
brought 2025 to a close with a magnificent gift to their ever growing support
as they dished out a football lesson to the Celtic megastars. At long last the
record books will show a home win in this fixture, the first since 2013.
Stephen O’Donnell,
Oscar Priestman and Callum Slattery joined the starting eleven as the well
tuned Motherwell machine took early control of the game.
Those fortunate enough to follow the claret
and amber saw the expected controlled possession mixed with a pressing bite to
allow home domination of the ball. We
did not have long to wait for the opener.
O’Donnell
spotted Ibrahim Said lurking in a forward position and fired in a long rage
ball that had the Nigerian rising to head beyond Kasper Schmeichel.
Motherwell
pursued the game with relentless energy and seemed always to have a player
available to take a pass. Even in those
rare occasions when the opposition raided deep they passed the ball to move
forward.
Callum Ward
had plenty to do but he had no saves to make.
Instead he had the ball at his feet as he looked to tempt the opposition
forward before finding a team-mate.
Half time
came with the home crowd purring at the excellent fare on view. Such was the visitors’ despair, they made three
substitutions as the game restarted.
They were
more of an forward going force now and manufactured a decent chance only to see
Paul McGinn sweep the ball to safety. Then
they blundered.
Schmeichel,
lacking the calm authority of Ward, gave the ball away and with Eli Just alert,
the ball found its way to Elliot Watt for a simple finish.
There was no
way back for Celtic. The had plenty of
the ball in Motherwell’s defensive third but were toothless in attack. Ward was called upon to palm away a shot from
Nygren but that apart the clean sheet was assured.
The win
brings to an end a wonderful first half of the season under the transformation
engineered by Jens Berthel Askou. If the
team can maintain this level for the rest of the season an high finishing
position will be assured.
Next up is a
visit from St Mirren on Saturday.
Motherwell 2
Celtic 0
Attendance 11,401
Team: Ward, Koutroumbis,
McGinn, O’Donnell, Priestman (Longelo 85), Sparrow, Fadinger, Slattery
(McAllister 93), Watt, Just (Hendry 75), Said (Ross 93)
Tuesday 29
December 2025
