Sunday, April 6, 2008

Celtic FC's Title Chances Pretty Much Squashed.

Scottish Premier League
Saturday, April 5, 2008
Celtic Park, Glasgow

CELTIC…. 0

MOTHERWELL… 1
(Lappin 33)

CELTIC (4-4-2) Boruc; Hinkel, Caldwell, McManus, Naylor; Nakamura, Donati (Robson 69), Brown, McGeady; Vennegoor of Hesselink, McDonald (Samaras 61).
Subs: M Brown, Wilson, Sno, Hutchinson, Hartley.

MOTHERWELL (4-5-1) Smith; Quinn (McLean 86), Reynolds, Craigan, Hammell; Lappin, Fitzpatrick, Hughes, Malcolm, McCormack (Murphy 78); Porter.
Subs: Daniels, Lasley, McGarry, Smith, Archdeacon.

Celtic's hopes of retaining the Scottish Premier League title were dealt a serious blow at Celtic Park, as a solitary goal from Simon Lappin sealed a 1-0 win for Motherwell.

Much like last week’s defeat to Rangers, Celtic again enjoyed the majority of possession and in an impressive start to the first half carved out a number of good chances.

But in a quick breakaway, Lappin scored with Motherwell's first attack of the game, a goal which eventually sealed the points for the visitors.

There were few signs of fatigue from last week’s derby defeat in the opening 25 minutes of this match, with Celtic immediately making a positive start and Scott Brown and Shunsuke Nakamura carving out a couple of early chances.

Massimo Donati also got an earful from Scott McDonald during this busy opening after the Italian showed great skill to cut along the byline, but fired straight at the keeper from a tight angle rather than cutting the ball back to the little Australian.

Celtic persevered though and despite Motherwell switching from their attacking 4-3-3 formation to a more defensive 4-5-1, the midfielders continued to play a prominent part with Brown channelling his seemingly boundless energy and influencing defence and attack.

(Article.)


Well, the future looks pretty bleak for the Bhoys, the really haven't played with much heart lately. Hopefully they can find it again, and at least finish out the season with class.

TomC

No comments: