WHEN you are on a slippery slope the only way is down. So it proved. Even against a Motherwell side reduced to ten men early in the second half, there was no way of halting the recent slide.
Yet again Celtic failed to score, the fifth time they ha
ve drawn a blank in the past seven games, and while they still managed to pose a threat in previous games there was an impotency to this performance.
It is winning which breeds confidence and without it the threat of a late goal, which has so often proved a self- professing prophecy, was missing. Throwing Ben Hutchison on for Andreas Hinkel with three minutes remaining was a desperate, and ultimately futile, act from a desperate man.
As the stands emptied it was the Motherwell fans who were saluting Gordon Strachan, few, if any, in the green and white will have shared their enthusiasm for a boss whose tenure is now under intense pressure. From the home fans, the final whistle was greeted by a chorus of boos and while Walter Smith has cause to round on the Ibrox boo boys, this cacophony was only to be expected. One win in seven games is never likely to be deemed acceptable.
There was a significance to the traditional rendition of You'll Never Walk Alone as the second half got under way. One goal down and Celtic were teetering on the brink. As the home side had scuttled off at the interval, Gary Caldwell and Shunsuke Nakamura were the latest Celtic players to vent their frustrations at each other. In that respect at least the half had ended as it had begun. That was where the similarities ended. From the outset, the home side had looked intent on keeping alive their slim challenge to Rangers at the top of the table but while they piled on the pressure and lined up chance after chance, they rarely looked like breaking the deadlock.
Motherwell had switched their usual line-up for a 4-5-1 formation and struggled to get to grips with it and it was midway through the half before Celtic keeper Artur Boruc got involved in the game. But the problem for Celtic has been their poor showings in front of goal. Whether poor decision-making or flawed execution, there was no menace to their attacking forays and the longer they huffed and puffed the more Motherwell grew in stature. Celtic, on the other hand, appeared to slump.
Disillusioned by the lack of progress and frustrated at the paucity of quality deliveries forward, Scott McDonald let rip at Massimo Donati in the seventh minute. The Italian was guilty of hanging onto the ball and attempting the impossible after he had skipped beyond the Motherwell defence but from an acute angle tried to hit the ball through keeper Graeme Smith instead of cutting it back to the waiting striker. As play raged on so too did the Australian.
By then Scott Brown had tried to scoop an effort over the Motherwell defence and into Smith's goal. It didn't work. With McDonald's ear-bashing still ongoing Donati tried an unnecessary long range effort in the eighth minute and merely exasperated McDonald further. From closer in Shunsuke Nakamura was the next to miss the target, this time from 10 yards, and although Aiden McGeady squeezed the ball across for Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink in the 20th minute, the big Dutchman failed to get above the ball and headed onto the bar. The same two players combined in the 30th minute but again the big striker couldn't find the target. In between Nakamura's technique deserted him as he sclaffed a trundler wide.
At that stage it was all happening in the Motherwell half and even their manager Mark McGhee admitted that when the winning goal came, it came against the run of play. But it was an example of the pace, precision and directness that can pay off. Ross McCormack was the guy who played the ball into the Celtic area, Marc Fitzpatrick had the initial effort and when it was parried Simon Lappin was there to slam it into Boruc's net.
Whether it was the goal or the switch to a neater 4-4-2, Motherwell relaxed into the match. But their cause was not aided when Bob Malcolm was sent off in the 51st minute.
A short pass from Lee Naylor to Donati sucked him in but he went over the ball as he challenged and as the Italian writhed on the ground the former Rangers player was sent packing. But it didn't make it any easier for Celtic to breakthrough. In fact it was McCormack, for the visitors, who sent a shot marginally over the bar. Resolute, Motherwell restricted Celtic to long-range hit and hopes and while McGeady got two on target, Smith was equal to them both.
Strachan decided to switch things up and threw on Georgios Samaras in place of McDonald. If it upset the Celtic fans, it infuriated the striker, who refused to shake his gaffer's hand as he left the pitch and kicked out at a seat in the dug-out.
It didn't matter who was on though. Celtic couldn't find the net. With the match in stoppage time and Boruc up to join in the attack, Samaras did manage to get a low shot in and forced a fine save from Smith. But that was it.
If this wasn't the final nail in the coffin, the lid is definitely on and Rangers are on standby with the hammer.
The full article contains 945 words and appears in Scotland On Sunday newspaper.
