Match Date : Saturday 13th September 1997 Competition : Premier League Attendance : 11,550
Motherwell scorer : Tommy Coyne (2).
McCURRY BLUNDERS HELP CELTIC TO NARROW WIN
Motherwell 2 Celtic 3FOR the second match in-a-row, Motherwell succumbed to a narrow one-goal defeat to Celtic, but like Wednesday's Cup exit, largely thanks to some shocking decisions by the officials, none more so than Referee McCurry.
A lot of the bad feeling which existed throughout the match could have been quelled early on following a disgraceful tackle by Regi Blinker on Iain Ross. Had Blinker been carded at this point, the incidents which came later perhaps would not have happened - as it was, Blinker went unpunished much to the disgust of Motherwell players and fans alike. However, the Fir Park side began the brightest, and took an early lead thanks to some gift-wrapped defending by Alan Stubbs. Motherwell won a throw on the stand-side by the half-way line, May threw to Coyle, who chipped over Stubbs. The Celtic defender was quick to turn, he played a pass back to keeper Gould. However, unluckily enough for Stubbs, Tommy Coyne was lurking and he needed no second invitation to slot the ball under Gould to give Motherwell the lead. This sprang Celtic into action, Thom to Donnelly, and his clever back-heel set Larsson through but he drilled his shot wide of Woods' far post. Donnelly then sent Larsson through again, but May was quick to clear. The pressure was mounting as Motherwell tried to break out. Thom, upon receipt of a Blinker pass, shot hard towards goal, the ball cannoning off Ross's upper forearm. With the away support screaming for a penalty, Larsson again shot wide from the rebound, but in fairness the ball did play Ross's arm. The Fir Park side were finding it difficult to create anything dangerous for Celtic to cope with, and if anything at this point it looked more likely the away side would level the match. Larsson and Blinker combined, though despite an excellant tackle by Falconer to send Ross away, the full-back lost possession to Thom, who fed Blinker. The ex-Sheffield Wednesday man fired in a shot which sped just past the post. Larsson, seeing plenty of the ball, then set Thom up, but McMillan blocked well. Referee McCurry then amazingly booked Greig Denham mid-way through the first-half. Denham, attempting to clear a loose ball, clipped Thom as he raced towards the ball. Clearly no malice was intended, but McCurry deceided a yellow card was necessary. Thom didn't help by going down extremely easily, and as if to add weight to Denham's argument no-one complained about the challenge. Celtic continued to attack in search of the equaliser, and Donnelly should have done better when put clean through by Larsson, but his chip went over Woods and over the bar. Towards half-time Motherwell at last began to break out of defence, Ross sending in a cross after good leading-up work from Coyne and McMillan, but Stubbs redeemed himself somewhat by nicking in ahead of Falconer to boot the ball clear. From Weir's corner, Wieghorst cleared with the help of Owen Coyle's back. The game erupted in 44 minutes when McMillan lunged in two-footed on Larsson. The booking McMillan received was justified, though Weighorst should have been sent-off after pushing the referee out of the way in an attempt to gain revenge on McMillan. Motherwell wasted a good opportunity near the interval when Coyle sent Ross to the by-line, but his poor cross was easily dealt with.
Half-Time Motherwell 1 Celtic 0Motherwell began the second-half in positive fashion, Ross sending Coyne wide but Reiper just got enough on the ball to prevent Coyne going through. It should have been 1-a-piece soon after, Thom crossing low for Larsson who knocked his effort onto the post. Donnelly, following up, sent his effort wide from 3 yards out. Motherwell then exerted some pressure of their own, Martin in to Falconer whose flick-on was cleared by Reiper. Coyle picked the ball up, passed back in to Ross, but his shot was again desperately blocked for a throw. Ross regained possession, sent in a dangerous cross which was dummied by Coyne for Falconer, but he failed to connect and the chance was gone. Falconer made up for this in some part by preventing Burley a clear shot on goal. However, soon after Celtic drew level. Larsson sent in a low cross which Burley met to in complete isolation to knock the ball past Woods. The away support weren't able to sing for long, as Motherwell then re-gained the advantage with a good, flowing move. Falconer met Reiper's clearance to nod to Ross. Playing a clever one-two with Coyle, he looked up and sent a terrific deep cross to the back post where Tommy Coyne headed powerfully past Gould to restore Motherwell's advantage. Celtic were then given a free kick when Blinker clearly backed into Ross, but much to Ross's disgust he was punished. From the free-kick came the incident which quite literally turned the match. Denham tackled Larsson as he raced into the box, and as the ball was cleared both players squared up to each other. It was really a case of calm down to both players, however, McCurry saw fit to book Larsson and send Denham off. And if it wasn't a penalty, then surley Larsson should have been booked anyway for diving. Despite having a replacement defender in Kevin Christie on the bench, Motherwell manager McLeish chose to move Falconer from midfield back to centre-half. The sending-off clearly had an effect on Motherwell, and within 15 minutes Celtic had levelled again. Stubbs beat Ross to a loose ball in mid-field, sent Burley through, and he sent a shot high beyond Woods into then net, with Falconer slow to cover the Celtic midfielder as he advanced towards goal. They almost went ahead when McNamara won the ball rather unfairly with a high challenge on Ross, though Woods saved his shot well. Celtic keeper Gould then had a scary moment when he dropped a Coyne cross, just managing to smother the ball as Ross looked set to capatilise on the error. However, Celtic did take the lead with 8 minutes to go when they were awarded a free-kick when McCulloch and Burley tusselled for a loose ball. Soft as the award was, Mcnamara took advantage by crossing for the unmarked Donnelly to twist himself and head a clever goal. Only a good header away by Falconer prevented Larsson making it four soon after. Celtic sensed the Motherwell heads were down and saught to finish the game off. Blinker, who was allowed to continue despite handling the ball, cut in to set-up Stubbs, but he shot high and wide in good position. Motherwell brought on recent signing Eliphas Shivute with just 5 minutes left, far too late to have any effect on the match, though he was able to fire in a shot near the end which came to nothing. Right at the end Larsson again tumbled in the box, though no booking was forthcoming. At the end, Celtic had won, though it has to be said with a lot of assistance from Referee McCurry.
FULL-TIME Motherwell 2 Celtic 3