SCOTT McDonald had the look of a man who'd dodged a bullet, which in SPL terms, he had. His 30th goal of the season was more important than many he has scored in this remarkable campaign of his and the relief at having helped his team escape with three points was written all over his face. "Motherwell will feel harshly done by. But we don't care," he said.
McDonald's equaliser was key to Celtic's recovery, coming as it did a little over 60 seconds after Chris Porter gave Motherwell the lead. It galvanised a team that had previously looked in a comatose state, creating nothing and giving the impression
of a group of men sleepwalking their way to a bad result, one that would almost certainly have handed the championship to Rangers on a plate. It was only the sight of Porter finding the net that gave Celtic a shake. Next thing, Shunsuke Nakamura and McDonald had combined for the umpteenth time of the season. "It was a just a great ball in from Naka, a half-volley with a nice bit of swerve. I managed to fend off the defender (Brian McLean] and keep it down."
He had a word for Celtic's Glasgow rivals. "We can't worry about Rangers. All we can do is win every game. If they don't slip up then they'll fully deserve their championship. We just have to hope that somebody does us a favour.
"The last thing I wanted was for our own challenge to end here. For periods, Motherwell were the better side and it could have been a very different result. It was a very frustrating game for strikers."
At the heart of the problem was this much-talked-about Fir Park pitch. "The ball was bobbling about everywhere and I think they knew what to do on it and it took us a while. The surface is so compact and scrappy. You can't get it down and play on that. It was a shame because you had two teams who wanted to play. The sooner this season ends for that pitch the better. They can rip it up and start again."
The full article contains 370 words and appears in Scotland On Sunday newspaper.
