SPL Sunday May 22nd

Motherwell 2

Celtic 1

0:1 Sutton 29
1:1 MacDonald 88
2:1 MacDonald 92

Att: 12,000

MIB: Pooh 'Good Riddance' Dallas

Celtic: Douglas Agathe Balde Varga McNamara Petrov Lennon Sutton Thompson Bellamy Hartson
subs
Beattie for Hartson 75

Despite this being a forgettable season in terms of quality, the players went into the final league game knowing what they had to do - win away from home. Had today's opponents been anybody else in the top six - say Rangers at Ibrox - there might have been some jitters: but this was Motherwell at Fir Park, a team languishing some 44 points adrift of Celtic in the table. Not only that, they were decimated by injuries while Celtic were pretty much at full strength. What could possibly go wrong?

If it's excuses you're after then read no further.

The first quarter of the game was fairly comfortable. An early goal would have maybe settled everybody down sooner, but it was clear that the team hadn't been set up to go out and blitz Motherwell away in a flurry of attacking football straight from the kick off. It let the home side ease themselves into things.

Still, the breakthrough duly arrived before half-time and it came as a result of one of the few flowing moves of the half. A low cross from Thompson was fumbled into the danger area by Marshall and Sutton was onto it before the Motherwell defence. 1:0 and something to build on after the break.

Not a bit of it. Instead, the first real action of the second half gave the players a badly needed wake-up call. Motherwell won a corner which was defended in a manner more in keeping with Dukla Pumpherstone. Thankfully Didier Agathe happened to be standing in precisely the right spot to take the resulting header full in the mush when it could easily have been nestling in the back of the net.

Another get out of jail card and surely just the thing to spur the team on to greater efforts to put the game away. To be fair to them they did embark on a 20 minute period of dominance but as each gilt-edged chance was created it was squandered with a profligacy that was beginning to cause more than a little trepidation among the fans. By the time we had entered the last 15 minutes that trepidation had turned into full blown angst, a reflection of the increasing uncertainty evident on the pitch. The defensive line crept further and further back while our so-called 'streetwise' players were content to blooter hopeful punts 60 yards up the field. Nothing balls, for the most part, easily dealt with by the Motherwell defence.

With two minutes to go the title was thrown away for the final time in spectacular style. A mishit shot from distance fell to McDonald inside the Celtic box. Balde - defending on his own penalty spot - couldn't challenge for fear of giving away a penalty and the ball was promptly hooked past Douglas. End of championship.

The second was equally farcical but largely irrelevant. the ghost had been given up by then and everybody knew it.

It was a bad time to lose only or second away league game in the last 43 (the other was at Ibrox). It was also the first time Motherwell had won a game against anybody after the top six split.

Stop. Enough.

This was arguably the worst result since the Raith Rovers League Cup Final. We came back stronger for that experience. We await developments after this shambles with interest.