5.15pm

We were beaten 3-1 at Celtic Park this afternoon.  At least it wasn't the humiliation that many 'Well fans feared before the game, but we now find ourselves five points adrift at the foot of the league and our disciplinary problems continue with yet ANOTHER red card today.

The team lined up in a 3-5-2 formation, with Dirk Lehmann playing at centre-half alongside Corrigan and Kinniburgh.  The midfield consisted of Dempsie, Fagan, Leitch, Adams and Hammell, while Ferguson partnered McFadden in attack.

We almost got off to the worst possible start when Adams pushed Fernandez in the box after only two minutes, but fortunately Larsson missed from the spot.  As expected, Celtic dominated possession for much of the first half and went close on a number of occasions, but we had our chances too - most notably a couple of close range efforts from Steve Ferguson which were well saved by Rab Douglas.  Getting to half time at 0-0 was a major achievement in itself.

We survived a couple of near things at the start of the second half, including a goal line clearance from Scott Leitch, before Celtic finally make the breakthrough after 53 mins when Larsson tucked the ball home at the back post.  It was 2-0 after 67 mins when Leitch deflected a Guppy cross into his own net, then shortly afterwards Valgaeren followed up after Dubourdeau had parried to grab Celtic's third.  Yet just a couple of minutes later, Dirk Lehmann pulled a goal back for Motherwell when he looped a header over Douglas.  We had the ball in the net again after 80 mins, but Shaun Fagan clearly made contact with his hand rather than his head, and having already been booked was rather stupidly sent off.

Given the selection problems Terry Butcher had before the game, I don't think we could have expected much better from the side today.  They clearly gave their all, and hopefully we can carry this on to the crucial game with Hearts on Wednesday night.

Team: Dubourdeau, Corrigan, Kinniburgh, Dempsie (Quinn 67), Hammell, Ferguson (Khaled 65), Fagan, Leitch (McDonald 84), Adams, McFadden, Lehmann.
Subs Not Used: Woods, Clarkson

Booked: Fagan, Dempsie.

Sent Off: Fagan.

Crowd: 56,733.

A rather worrying report in one of this morning's papers claims that the Office of Fair Trading could investigate the SPL's criteria which demands that the First Division champions must have a 10,000 all-seater stadium before they can be promoted...

Cast your vote in our new Opinion Poll:

Would YOU welcome John Boyle taking control at Fir Park again?