Today's result: Motherwell 2, Celtic 4.

Celtic ran riot at Fir Park this afternoon with a blistering first half display that saw them go in 4-0 up at the interval.  Motherwell rallied in the second half and managed to make the scoreline respectable, but the game was well over as a contest by this point.

I could moan about our defence all day long, but let's be honest - we were completely outclassed in the first half and could easily have conceded even more than four.  We were 2-0 down before we knew what had hit us, with Maloney tapping into an empty net after 5 mins and Samaras evading two defenders before slipping the ball beyond Smith shortly afterwards.  On 24 mins, Scott McDonald turned Reynolds all too easily before firing high past Smith, and we were fortunate not to go even further behind when a Maloney free kick rebounded off the crossbar.  Shortly before the interval, Celtic cut us open yet again for the goal of the game, with Samaras finishing off a great move to put Celtic 4-0 up - a scoreline which if anything flattered us slightly.

At least we made a game of it in the second half, and pulled a goal back on 55 mins when the impressive Sutton lashed home a Lasley knock-down.  Clarkson reduced the deficit even further when he prodded the ball under Boruc, and briefly it seemed that a comeback could be on the cards.  Sadly, any momentum we had was lost when Jim O'Brien was introduced as a substitute.  To be brutally honest, I thought he was worse than being a man down, and Celtic closed out the game with little trouble.

Against an admittedly excellent Celtic strikeforce (Samaras in particular I thought was outstanding), our defence, and centre backs especially, were shown up to be exactly what they are - average players who are far too slow and lightweight.  I'm no fan of Bob Malcolm, but I thought today's game was crying out for someone with a physical presence like him to sit in front of the defence and offer them a bit of protection.  After all, there's no point shelling out for his presumably top-end wages to have him sitting on the bench every week.

Let's just hope the players had their minds on the UEFA Cup in the first half!

Team (4-3-3): Graeme Smith, Quinn, Craigan, Reynolds, Hammell, Hughes, Lasley, McGarry (O'Brien 58), Clarkson (Murphy 86), Porter, Sutton.
Subs Not Used: Nielsen, Malcolm, Darren Smith, Fitzpatrick, Connolly.

Motherwell scorers: Sutton (55), Clarkson (57).

Booked: Lasley, Craigan, Reynolds.

Attendance: 8.407.

Mark McGhee's post-match comments were as follows:
"Things went wrong because Celtic were so good. They were fast, powerful, inventive and we were totally over-powered and outclassed in every department.  The way they played in the first half, they could have done that to any team in the SPL.  You have to look at how Celtic approached the second half but we started winning tackles and playing as a unit, which I thought was really important.  We salvaged a little bit of pride but it's a measure of how far we have to go."

McGhee added that he will play the same 4-3-3 formation in Nancy on Thursday:
"I didn't think it was down to the system.  I think it was down to how well Celtic played and individual moments in the game.  We have one of the best defensive records in the SPL playing that way.  There's no reason why it should have any more risk than any other system.  Our two wide centre-forwards are prepared to work back and they do it well.  The French will have been here today and will report back what they have seen.  They will have a certain impression of us defensively and we have to go there and make sure it was a one-off."

Speaking of Nancy, the Official Site reports that there are only 150 tickets remaining from our allocation of 2,000.  I'm in section 14, which looks like it is directly behind one of the goals.

Just a pity that the club's ticketing arrangements have been so farcical.  Although I only had a 15 minute wait on Wednesday morning, I know of other fans who had to queue in the pouring rain for up to three hours later that day.  You wouldn't treat animals like that.