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Sunday Papers; 09/11/08
Topic Started: Nov 8 2008, 10:35 PM (186 Views)
Jinty
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Sunday Times


Celtic stroll to widen gap at top of SPL

Scottish round-up

CELTIC, fresh from a morale-boosting draw against Manchester United in the Champions League, hold a five-point lead over Rangers in the Scottish Premier League after a 2-0 home win against Motherwell yesterday.

The champions thought they had opened the scoring shortly before half-time, but Scott McDonald’s effort was ruled out for a push on Paul Quinn. The home support did not have to wait long to celebrate, as Paul Hartley shot into the bottom corner from 20 yards.

Motherwell’s task became even more difficult on 58 minutes when David Clarkson got a straight red card for using his elbow in challenging Paul Caddis. McDonald then punished his former club by adding the second from 20 yards.

With Motherwell losing, Dundee United opened up a two-point gap in third place after a 2-1 win over Aberdeen at Tannadice. Francisco Sandaza, scorer of two goals in a thrilling 3-3 draw against Rangers at Ibrox in midweek, took advantage of a mix-up between Zander Diamond and Scott Severin on eight minutes to put United ahead. Then Sandaza’s shot was parried by Jamie Langfield, and Warren Feeney swept the ball into the empty net. Darren Mackie pulled one back for Aberdeen midway through the second half.

Hearts survived the dismissal of Michael Stewart five minutes before half-time to beat St Mirren 1-0 at Love Street. Stewart was sent off for aiming a kick at Hugh Murray. Eggert Jonsson headed the winner for the visitors with 11 minutes remaining.

Hearts move above Edinburgh rivals Hibs, who fell to a 2-1 home defeat by Inverness. A mistake by David Van Zanten allowed Inverness to take the lead, Don Cowie running through on goal and beating Yves Ma Kalambay. Hibs were forced into a goalkeeping change at half-time, but Kalambay’s replacement, Andy McNeil, was soon picking the ball out of the net after Ian Black scored from 17 yards. Derek Riordan saw a second-half penalty saved by Ryan Esson, but he did score in stoppage time.

Hamilton remain bottom of the table despite James McCarthy, the teenager who could mark his 18th birthday this week with a call-up to Giovanni Trapattoni’s Republic of Ireland squad, giving them a first-half lead against Falkirk. McCarthy’s fine volley was cancelled out by Michael Higdon four minutes into the second half. Hamilton have now gone seven games without a win.
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Sunday Herald


Crisis? What crisis? CELTIC 2 - 0 MOTHERWELL

Michael Grant at Celtic Park

CELTIC CONTINUE to accumulate SPL points, and injuries, at a breathtaking rate.

Three points and two new casualties were added last night. Shunsuke Nakamura will be out for at least a fortnight after a scan on his left knee revealed he will need to rest and may miss the Champions League tie against Aalborg in 16 days. He was absent for Celtic's eighth consecutive league victory. Shaun Maloney did feature but limped off with a dead leg at the start of the second half.

Including a couple of fringe players Celtic have 12 men wounded: Nakamura, Maloney, Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink, Georgios Samaras, Artur Boruc, Aiden McGeady, Marc Crosas, Glenn Loovens, Chris Killen, Paddy McCourt, Jean-Joel Perrier-Doumbe and Paul McGowan, the young striker who manager Gordon Strachan said would have been a substitute yesterday had he been fit.

"We are up to a full team of injuries now," said Strachan, who was in the mood to smile despite his misfortune. "Nakamura injured himself on Thursday. He had a scan and it's not good news. He will be missing for a couple of weeks." Nakamura himself said: "I feel pains inside my left knee. It hurts when I try to kick the ball."

Celtic still have the bodies to put out a team at home to Kilmarnock on Wednesday, of course. If Motherwell were to have a dozen out they would have no option but to request a postponement. Much was said about the discrepancy in resources between Celtic and Manchester United last week but the gulf was just as apparent yesterday, this time in the champions' favour. Even the absence of a handful of senior men could not derail them against a Motherwell side who began brightly but squandered chances, lost goals at bad times and were the victims of an unjust red card.

Manager Mark McGhee was hard on his players later, claiming that they had let themselves down. "As a coach you have a group of players you work with and you come to a point where you think can they get better?' If not, you are as well going and letting someone else do it. But I do think there is another ten to 15 per cent in this group of players. If they had given that 10 per cent we could have given Celtic a game. We were not good enough."

He was hard to please, because some of Motherwell's first half play was a pleasure.

Keith Lasley enjoyed the responsibility of the captain's armband in central midfield and in David Clarkson they had a forward - one of a front three - who caused trouble for Celtic. Clarkson's afternoon was to turn sour, but he began full of confidence and ideas and forced Mark Brown into a lively save from a low shot.

Brown hadn't seen first-team action since Boxing Day last year. He had been out so long he was in danger of being mummified. Boruc had been expected to play before his scheduled knee operation tomorrow but Strachan called in Brown instead. Motherwell kept him occupied. Clarkson sent a looping header goalwards and there were strong claims it had crossed the goalline before Maloney knocked it clear. Chris Porter sent a header wide when he ought to have scored.

After the pyrotechnics of Manchester United's visit it was as though Parkhead's lights were dimmed for the return of SPL action, although the game was good enough to preserve a reasonable atmosphere. There was a minute's applause ahead of Rememberance Sunday rather than a silence, which was explained over the public address system as now being "the Celtic way" for such events, while there was a walk-out protest against "British Imperialism" by around 50 Irish-based Celtic supporters.

Both teams wore poppies embroidered into their shirts.

Mark Brown was Celtic's only change to the side which held Manchester United. Scott Brown hit a low shot off the foot of the post, then McDonald struck a dipping 25-yard drive which forced Graeme Smith into a one-handed save.

The little forward maintained his rich recent form. He scored after seven minutes against United although it took him ten times as long to do so against Motherwell.

He ran on to a stray ball from Marc Fitzpatrick's tackle and rifled a low shot deep into the corner of the net. It doubled the lead which Celtic had taken seconds before half-time.

With the inevitability of a clock striking midnight, Motherwell's first half optimism and enthusiasm had been punctured by the concession of the opener. They had survived the initial danger from Cillian Sheridan's break down the left but the ball was never fully cleared and when Marc Fitzpatrick's header fell to Paul Hartley he controlled it on his chest and struck a low bouncing shot from 25 yards which found the inside of Smith's right hand post. Surprisingly it was Hartley's first Parkhead goal for Celtic and there was another first when Koki Mizuno came on for a brief but busy debut.

Motherwell were down to ten men before the second goal when referee Dougie McDonald harshly interpreted Clarkson's arm across Paul Caddis's face as a deliberate assault with his elbow. If anything it was the back of his hand that slapped the young defender. "I don't think it was intentional," said Strachan.

McGhee thought the decision rash, but not significant to the outcome. "The referee knows the players and he has to take that into account. I didn't think it was a red card, but I'm not convinced that if David Clarkson had stayed on the field we would have won."

Celtic substitutes: Caddis for Maloney 49, Donati for Robson 78, Mizuno for McDonald 87 Not used: Fox, Donati, O'Dea, Hutchinson, Naylor Booked: Robson 17
Motherwell substitutes: Murphy for Porter 64, O'Brien for Lasley 61 Not used: Nielson, D. Smith, McGarry, Page, Connolly Booked: Reynolds 49, Lasley 61 Sent-off: Clarkson 57

Referee: D McDonald
Att: 56,504

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Sunday Herald


Double strength solution

By Michael Grant

CELTIC: Their midweek showing underlined why Gary Caldwell and Stephen McManus have established themselves as a first-choice pairing for club and country.

THE PERFORMANCE Stephen McManus and Gary Caldwell delivered against Manchester United was an unadulterated thrill for everyone at Celtic, with the possible exception of four men. When the United circus had moved on and the rush of excitement began to fade, the reality was sobering for Glenn Loovens, Darren O'Dea, Bobo Balde and, stuck away down in Norwich, the loaned out John Kennedy. McManus and Caldwell had never looked more immovable, never looked more embedded, never looked more secure as the bedrock of the defence. Happy news for Celtic, dispiriting for the men hopeful of taking over from them.

Not since Willie Miller and Alex McLeish last patrolled together in 1990 has there been a Scottish central defensive partnership with the potential to operate side-by-side for several years at club and international level. McManus and Caldwell, both 26, are in their third season together with Celtic and, since George Burley took over, they have been the default partnership for Scotland. Burley has likened them to Miller and McLeish. In fact neither is as individually impressive as the Aberdeen pair were, but the partnership is evolving and improving. Caldwell, in particular, has been excellent this season. Many thought him too prone to mistakes and he was loudly criticised, but he has responded with form which has earned him a new contract offer.

Miller was at Parkhead to provide analysis for Radio Scotland last Wednesday and when he later reflected at length on McManus and Caldwell his praise was unrestrained. "Look at the quality of the opposition - United were exceptional in the first half and world class in the second - yet Celtic still managed to keep them out all bar that one goal. Their positional sense was fabulous. Their understanding with each other throughout the game was first class. The two centre backs, being under that much pressure, stood up to the challenge and came out of it with honour.

"Playing together is important. After maybe a decade together it was almost telepathic between myself and Alex. He knew what I was going to do and I knew what he was going to do. Stephen and Gary have had their telling times and their critics. It's a measure of the character that Caldwell has shown that he has come through bits of that.

"Individually they are both good players and they have grown in stature. Games like that one are only going to help them. You get landmark games in your career that give you the belief that you can go on to bigger things. Myself and Alex had it playing for Scotland at Wembley in 1981, we had it against Bayern Munich in 1983. These kind of games just give you the belief to kick on and go on to better things. They are at a perfect age, their peak athletic years are coming up and they are mentally improving. They can play a bit as well, they're not just big stoppers. They show composure too. Maybe on the night I thought United's corner kicks caused them a problem or two. That was the only weak part of their game."

One spectator with a vested interest saw something else to concern him: the ball. Artur Boruc will undergo a knee operation tomorrow which is likely to mean Mark Brown continues in goal for Celtic's penultimate Group E game away to Aalborg on November 25. That will require him to deal with a ball he described as "ridiculous" because of its unpredictable movement. The official Champions League ball, the Adidas Teamgeist, has been criticised by some for being too light. In Brown's opinion it was the unpredictability of the ball's flight which deceived Boruc on Wednesday when he could only parry Cristiano Ronaldo's vicious shot into the path of Ryan Giggs, whose header cancelled out Scott McDonald's opening goal.

"Honestly, having trained with those balls, they are ridiculous and should be banned," said Brown, who played a Champions League tie against Spartak Moscow last season. "The way the ball moves is incredible. It's like nothing I have ever seen. At the time I thought Artur's save was a great one because I know how much that ball moves. I sympathise with him, especially with the way Ronaldo kicks the ball. It is completely different to the SPL ball made by Mitre. It is so light that even trying to curl the ball is next to impossible. Even outfield players don't like it because passing the thing is a lottery.

"The first time we used it, before the Aalborg home game, we were out training and I was thinking oh my God, what's this?' Adidas won't be happy with my comments. They are trying to make it lighter all the time but it's too light."

Qualification for the last 16 remains theoretically possible for Celtic but there has been an inclination - not from Gordon Strachan or his players - to regard the three points from the Aalborg trip as being in the bank already. In fact, if Celtic lose that away game, and of course they tend to experience nothing except defeat on their travels, they will finish bottom of the group and be out of Europe altogether. A draw would mean they could finish no higher than third. A win would prolong their prospects so long as Villarreal and Manchester United do not carve up a draw on the same night, as a point would be enough for both of them. Even a cursory glance at the group table suggests the damage has been done. It is asking too much to hope that sides of United and Villarreal's calibre might throw away a six-point advantage with two games left.

The strength of the English and Spanish representatives, the injuries to Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink and Georgios Samaras and the concession of two points at home to the Danes have brought Celtic to the brink of elimination. They have scored only once and taken just two points from two home matches when in every previous season those pair of fixtures have yielded six.

The pleasure Strachan derived from coping with United at all was unmistakable. The defence's triumph had been his, too, because his bold decision to play two in attack helped to occupy United and relieve a little of the pressure on his players. "Looking at it, we were actually far more comfortable when we put two strikers on the pitch. The two strikers were dragging Man United people back to defend. In the second half we only had one after Cillian Sheridan tired and had to be withdrawn in the 63rd minute. So then United could loiter up the pitch and keep themselves fresh and when the ball came to them they could take off. So defensively, Scott and Cillian did very well for us."

Long after Miller had put down his microphone on Wednesday night a listener called the station to complain that Celtic had been just as guilty of "anti-football" as Rangers were when attracting criticism in their 4-5-1 slog towards last season's Uefa Cup final. Presumably the caller felt it would be sensible to play three up front against the holders of the European Cup.

Celtic's manager did not share that enthusiasm for tactical suicide. Going with two was brave enough, and he was rewarded with a performance from his defence which he described as the best since he came to the club three-and-a-half years ago.

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The Independent


McDonald seizes his chance to seal revival - Celtic 2 Motherwell 0

By Phil Gordon at Parkhead

Scott McDonald returned to haunt Motherwell as he found the net for the seventh time in six games against his old club since leaving them. McDonald's second-half goal built upon a sublime strike from Paul Hartley to secure an eighth successive victory. Well played the final half-hour with 10 men after David Clarkson was dismissed but Celtic showed remarkable powers of recovery after their draining Champions' League meeting with Manchester United three days earlier.

Motherwell tried to take advantage of any Celtic fatigue early on with Chris Porter's looping header being cleared off the line by the vigilant Shaun Maloney before goalkeeper Mark Brown, replacing the injured Artur Boruc, produced a fine save to deny John Sutton.

It took the hosts 20 minutes to conjure a threat, with McDonald spinning to thrash a shot that Graeme Smith superbly pushed wide. The Motherwell goalkeeper eclipsed that save 10 minutes later to paw McDonald's header away. The champions recognised they had to step up their tempo and Cillian Sheridan came close when he gathered a pass from McDonald and hit a raking effort that was turned wide of the post by the agile Smith.

McDonald did get the ball in the net but his firm 44th-minute header was ruled out because he had pushed Paul Quinn.

However, with the next attack, Celtic struck. Sheridan created the opening by bursting into the box and his attempt to find McDonald saw the ball break back to him. The Irish teenager's second cross was headed out by Mark Reynolds and Hartley showed peerless technique to control the ball with his chest and thrash a low 20-yard volley past Smith

The visitors' task became immense when Clarkson was sent off for shoving a hand in the face of his pursuer, Celtic substitute Paul Caddis. McDonald was guilty of greed when he spoiled the work of Andreas Hinkel, who had embarked on a great solo run, only for McDonald to steal the ball off him in the box and shoot too high.

But the Australian striker atoned for that in the 71st minute when he seized on the ball, cut in from the right and drilled a low right-foot finish beyond Smith from 20 yards.

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The Scotsman


Celtic 2-0 Motherwell: Celtic show stamina for victory

By Andrew Smith at Celtic Park

Celtic 2 - Hartley 45, McDonald 70

Motherwell 0

THERE may be many flaws in the make-up of Gordon Strachan's Celtic. Plenty of English observers who watched their every-sinew-straining exertions merely to hold out in desperate fashion against a rampant Manchester United on Wednesday night would reel them off for you. But Celtic's application and stamina makes them a marvel, in a Scottish context at least.

That the same 10 outfield players, only three days after running themselves into submission, could suck so deeply on their lungs and prove too physically strong, too battle-hardened for a Motherwell team who have bustle and bite made a seemingly ordinary victory an impressive declaration. In the past two months Celtic have found another level and yesterday they moved five points clear of playing-today Rangers without half a dozen of their integral performers.

Admittedly, referee Dougie McDonald would appear to have aided their cause greatly by sending off David Clarkson in the 58th minute. The striker earned a red card for catching Paul Caddis in the face with his palm to fend off the Celtic substitute as he tugged him back. Most observers, including opponent Paul Hartley, questioned whether there was any intent and so the decision. Then a goal down to Hartley's effort on the stroke of half-time that brought him a first goal for the club at Celtic Park, Mark McGhee's side seem to accept their fate from that point.

It was sealed, fittingly, by Scott McDonald in the 71st minute. He has practically been a one-man strikeforce of late as teenager Cillian Sheridan learns his trade beside him. The Australian is now proving a constant menace, as he showed with his glorious midweek strike. Nothing much looked on when the ball broke to him 25 yards out, but he bagged his second goal of the week by squeezing a low shot through space that didn't exist, accuracy rather than power the reason it ended up nestling in the far right hand corner of Graeme Smith's net.

There may have been a morning-after-the-night-before feel to proceedings, but beforehand the encounter enjoyed a billing in the front as well as the back pages of the press. The wearing of poppies by Celtic players in the weekend of Remembrance Sunday provoked outrage from some fringe supporters' groups firmly in the wing of Celtic equals Irish Catholic club and must therefore be pro-IRA and anti-British imperialism. They made plain they would protest but in the end it was their protest that was plain.

It amounted to a group of about 40, mainly youths, gathering in the car park pre-match to distribute leaflets that chuntered on about the insensitivity to the club's Irish fan base of "endorsing a celebration of the British Army" and urged a walk out of the stadium after 10 minutes. And, following a minute's applause enthusiastically endorsed, that is what the 40 supporters did at the appointed time, a couple waving tricolours as they exited from a corner of the east stand.

Save for a few boos, home supporters were otherwise too busy fretting about the obvious flatness of their team to bother with the early departures. The arena was so subdued it was incredible to believe it contained probably about 50,000-plus of the same fans who made it so electrifying in midweek. To the extent then that Dr Frankenstein would have been able to channel the energy and succeed in any reanimation programme.

The jolt that brought Celtic to life was the early intent of Motherwell. The visitors initially looked in the mood to capitalise of the mammoth effort expended by the Scottish champions against United. McGhee would surely have used Celtic's starting XI as a motivating tool in his team talk. Strachan admitted the other day he "was running out of bodies" and would be forced to play the same players who had nothing left to give at the end of their midweek mission. His only change from that encounter was, predictably, injury-enforced, Mark Brown taking over in goal from Artur Boruc, who will be out for two weeks following a knee operation.

Brown's first action was almost picking the ball out of the net after he was beaten by a John Sutton header from a Steven Hammell corner in the ninth minute. The keeper was spared by the presence of Shaun Maloney on the line though there was some debate about whether the midfielder was behind the line when heading clear. Within seconds, Scott Brown had fired an effort against the post. Thereafter, the teams traded openings, Chris Porter wasteful with a free header, McDonald forcing a good block from Smith and Sheridan twice lacking the conviction when finding himself in good positions.

The young Irishman, though, had the presence of mind to pick out Hartley on the edge of the box after the ball had bounced around the Motherwell box in the last minute of the first period. It was a intervention that paved the way for the turning point.

Because Hartley chesting the ball down and arrowing a bumping low drive past Smith gave the home side the boost that allowed them to produce the sort of composed, efficient second half display that was enough to quash any prospects of a Motherwell comeback.

So in charge were Celtic by the end that Strachan felt sufficiently at ease to send on the club's other Japanese player, Koki Mizuno, for a debut. The midfielder was only given two minutes after replacing McDonald, but he used them well with a couple of runs and a shot that drifted just over.

There is nothing in the way of drifting from Celtic, meanwhile.

MAN OF THE MATCH

He was the driving force and proved the key with a first strike at Celtic Park in his near two years with the club. Paul Hartley was easily the most important player.

QUICK FACT

The Champions League may not be proving particularly profitable for Celtic but since losing to Motherwell in April, Gordon Strachan's side have played 21 games domestically, and only failed to win two.

TALKING POINT

The red card for David Clarkson some felt was on the harsh side. Off the park, the protests from around 40 Celtic supporters over the team's poppy-wearing will exercise many phone-ins and hotlines for weeks.

Nakamura and Maloney join lengthy Parkhead injury list

HE CAN take satisfaction from his team on the park but it is Gordon Strachan's "team" in the treatment room that is causing anxiety. Speaking after the 2-0 win over Motherwell, the Celtic manager revealed Shunsuke Nakamura and Shaun Maloney had been added to his casualty list.

The midfielders join Artur Boruc, Aiden McGeady, Georgios Samaras, Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink, Glen Loovens, Marc Crosas, Chris Killen, Paddy McCourt and Paul McGowan in the personnel likely to be unavailable for Wednesday night's hosting of Kilmarnock.

Nakamura sustained a knee knock in training on Thursday, reputedly following a tackle by coach Neil Lennon. "He wanted to train again on Friday but we thought we better get a scan and when the doc came back with the results it was not good news," Strachan said.

"It is his left knee and he could be out for a couple of weeks. I think we are now up to a full team of injuries… It is not ideal but the rest of us just have to get on with it."

Maloney limped off with a dead leg during the Motherwell game. "We tried to keep him jogging about at half-time but he couldn't get going in the second half," explained Strachan.

Celtic got on with it yesterday after a start during which he admitted "you could see both the crowd and ourselves were tired after Manchester United".

Motherwell manager Mark McGhee admitted his team could have been better. "It was no hard lucky story," he said. "Essentially we were not good enough to beat Celtic after I came here thinking we could win."

McGhee, however, was in no doubt that David Clarkson was the victim of a hard-luck story when he was red-carded after his hand made contact with the face of Paul Caddis.

"The referee (Dougie McDonald] knows the player and knows he's not a lad who is going to do that and knows he's not stupid," McGhee said. "He just used his arm to fend Caddis off and unfortunately caught him."

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Sunday Telegraph


Celtic victory over Motherwell tarnished by protest over Remembrance Sunday
Celtic (1) 2 Motherwell (0) 0

By Roddy Forsyth

Celtic went five points clear of Rangers – who meet Kilmarnock this afternoon at Rugby Park – when they beat a Motherwell side reduced to 10 men in the second half by the dismissal of David Clarkson, with goals from Paul Hartley and Scott McDonald.

An otherwise satisfactory day for the league leaders was marred by a protest from supporters who did not agree with the club's observance of Remembrance weekend.

Anticipating the possibility of disruption, Celtic – alone of the Scottish Premier League clubs – decided against commemorating the event with a silence, opting instead for a minute's applause.

Denied the opportunity to make their objections heard – the protest was evidently connected with the British army's activities in Northern Ireland – around 150 fans left the ground and demonstrated outside the front of the stadium.

That done, the focus returned to events on the pitch, where Gordon Strachan fielded the same Celtic side that had beaten Hearts last Sunday and drawn with Manchester United in the midweek Champions League encounter – with the important exception of Artur Boruc, who will undergo surgery on a troublesome knee injury.

Motherwell manager Mark McGhee was happy to reveal his game plan beforehand when he declared that the intent was to deny Celtic space, score first and exploit the lead as the table toppers tired in the later stages.

Alas for McGhee, the best-laid plans of mice and men are often supplemented by those of football managers.

To be fair, Motherwell mixed it effectively once a dull opening 10 minutes was got out of the way and Shaun Maloney – who had cleared on the Celtic goal line from Dimitar Berbatov on Wednesday – repeated the feat when John Sutton was allowed an unchecked header.

Chris Porter, too, was allowed aerial freedom at a later corner kick, but placed his header wide when an accurate attempt would surely have opened the scoring.

Celtic, too, were denied by fractions, first when Gary Caldwell caught Bob Malcolm flat-footed with a long lob which McDonald cut back for Scott Brown.

The pass was just a little behind Brown, but the midfielder still managed to deliver a low drive that cracked off the base of the post.

Graeme Smith, the Motherwell goalkeeper, was twice forced to make decisive saves at full stretch, once with a parry from a stinging McDonald shot and again with a touch to divert a low attempt from Cillian Sheridan wide of the far post.

Motherwell got themselves within seconds of a scoreless draw at the interval when they lost concentration long enough for Hartley to strike a crisp low shot from 23 yards beyond Smith.

The Fir Park side might still have been able to revive their strategy until Clarkson elbowed the challenging Paul Caddis in the face and their diminished strength was insufficient to thwart McDonald when he netted the second with an angled drive from the edge of the box 20 minutes from time.

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The Observer


McDonald profits as Well get the elbow

Patrick Glenn at Celtic Park

Celtic 2 Hartley 45, McDonald 71
Motherwell 0

Celtic had to overcome a number of handicaps of their own before exploiting the one that effectively ended Motherwell's chances of taking a rare point or three from Parkhead. It was the ordering-off of Chris Clarkson in the 58th minute that allowed the champions to double the lead - through Scott McDonald - established by Paul Hartley just a few seconds before half-time.

The victory restored Gordon Strachan's team's five-point lead in the Premier League - at least until Rangers play at Kilmarnock this afternoon - on a day when they were entitled to be unusually vulnerable.

Hartley's goal brought an improbable conclusion to a first half marked by a general flatness that was predictable for more than one reason. Not only did it follow the unremitting effervescence of the midweek Champions League fixture with Manchester United, but the home team suffered from the effect of a lengthy - and still growing - casualty list.

The news that Shunsuke Nakamura had joined the other seven first-team squad members unavailable for selection - the total would reach nine with Shaun Maloney's removal early in the second half - left Gordon Strachan with no choice but to play the same 10 outfield players when he would surely have preferred to make three or four changes. Reserve goalkeeper Mark Brown for Artur Boruc was the only alteration to the side that finished the United match exhausted.

Motherwell seemed to sense the vulnerability of the champions, Mark McGhee fielding three recognised strikers in a team that often gave the impression they were under orders to operate in the Celtic half of the field at every opportunity. Their willingness to comply should have brought them an advantage long before Hartley struck.

Stevie Hammell's corner from the right was met by Chris Porter and his header would have opened the scoring but for the alertness of Maloney.

As he had done in midweek, the little midfielder cleared from under his crossbar. But Porter should have given nobody in a green-and-white shirt a chance of preventing him from scoring soon afterwards. From another Hammell corner on the right, he glanced the header from six yards wide of Brown's right post.

Celtic had threatened only fleetingly and largely without incisiveness before Cillian Sheridan's cross from the left was knocked out to Hartley and the midfielder's low, powerful, right-foot drive from 25 yards skidded away to the right of Graeme Smith.

The loss of Maloney five minutes into the second half further encouraged the visitors to attack and Chris Porter somehow missed the target from six yards just before the aberration that had Clarkson sent off. Harried by Paul Caddis, the Motherwell forward threw out his left arm and the sound of the contact with the substitute's face was audible from the stand. His dismissal was inevitable.

It was a significant setback for a Motherwell side whose threat had been becoming more insistent. They were unfortunate, for instance, when Stephen Hughes took the loose ball following a corner and hit a ferocious left-foot volley on the turn that would surely have tested Mark Brown, but for taking a deflection that sent the ball marginally over the bar.

With the loss of Clarkson, it was the visitors who became the more vulnerable and McDonald exploited the advantage with a typically opportunistic strike. When Barry Robson was stopped in his run, McDonald took possession on the right, moved inside past two opponents and hit the drive low and to the right of Smith from 15 yards.
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