Motherwell v Celtic 29th August 2010 

Written by Anthony Joseph

A late Daryl Murphy penalty at Fir Park sent us back where we belong – at the top of the league.

After the disaster of last Thursday in Holland, Lennon’s Bhoys needed to show that they had the character to bounce back and keep the domestic winning run intact. The Hoops fans got right behind the team from the start to show our support for them.

We started brightly and looked very sharp with our slick passing and moving. Forrest took the ball to the byline before whipping in a low cross which was met on the bounce by Maloney, whose shot was well saved by the Motherwell goalkeeper.

Murphy was next to come close and he took on two defenders before his deflected shot from the edge of the box dipped just over the bar onto the roof of the net.

Just before half time Celtic were awarded a free kick at the edge of the box as Maloney was brought down. It was the wee man himself who stepped up to take it and his curling effort was only inches off target.

In the second half we controlled the game, without looking too dangerous. Majstorovic had a header just over the bar and Maloney fired just wide of the mark, as the cries for Paddy McCourt to come on became louder and louder.

Paddy did come on eventually and he added an extra dimension to the very predictable style of attack that the Bhoys were producing at the time.

In the 73^rd minute Celtic finally took the lead. Scott Brown’s pass found Maloney clear through on goal and he burst into the box and was brought down by the challenge of Steve Saunders. There was only one thing the referee could do and that was award Celtic the penalty and send Saunders for an early bath.

Up stepped Daryl Murphy who confidently slotted the ball home from the spot to bag his first competitive goal for his boyhood heroes and he sent the Celtic fans into raptures.

The closing minutes were not really nervy at all and Celtic looked comfortable and should have probably score a couple more as McCourt and Murphy were wasteful with their late chances to double the lead.

However, the final whistle did sound and Celtic took all three points yet again. It was a comfortable performance, but in future we have to be more clinical in front of goal. There were times when we looked very shot-shy round the edge of the box and we tried to pass the ball into the net on many occasions.

Man of the match: Emilio Izaguirre –  My man of the match was the debut Bhoy as he looked comfortable at the back and brought a bit of composure that Loovens and Majstorovic lacked against Motherwell. He was caught out of position a few times in the fisrt half, but he battled well, won tackles and looked a threat going forward. Hope to see more of this from him in the future.

By Anthony Joseph