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Celtic confirmed their place in the CIS Cup Final tonight, in what can only be described as a lucky escape.
Motherwell knew they had a great chance to win a trophy if they could only overcome the Glasgow giants and they did not dissapoint their fans as they dominated the attacking football, while Celtic could only bank on forty percent of the overall play.
Motherwell started out with fight and determination and it paid glorious dividends in the eleventh minute when Richie Foran capitalised on a mistake by Artur Boruc, who left his goal too late to capture an average cross from McBride. Foran made no mistake in heading into the net, leaving the Celtic fans stunned and the 'Well fans singing.
Motherwell seemed to thrive whilst in the lead and continued to dominate most of the play until a simple mistake by the Motherwell midfield allowed Maloney to charge and play a defence splitting pass onto Zurawski who finished well, albeit with a touch of lady luck off the boot of Smith.
Many would have forgiven the Motherwell players if they had allowed their heads to dip but credit must go to Terry Butcher's men as they continued to take the play to Celtic and two attempts from Scott McDonald could have killed it for Strachan's men, but luck was not on the strikers side.
Celtic appeared from the break first, after a possible roasting from the gaffer and they started brightly, but there seemed no bite in the team and Motherwell must have noticed this.
Terry Butcher refrained from making any substitutions, whilst Celtic brought on fresh legs in an attempt to kill the game. Nothing seemed to be working for Strachan as he watched Motherwell continually attack, and the corner stats summed the night up, with Motherwell having nine corners to Celtic's none.
Although Motherwell enjoyed some attacking football, they had to defend well and Martyn Corrigan was outstanding in his calmness when ushering the ball to his keeper under pressure, at times. This was to change in the 87th minute when Corrigan became too complacent as he knocked back to Smith when a simple clearance was the option. The knock back was beyong Smith and he had to dive to save the own goal, causing the referee to give the indirect freekick from six yards.
Many teams struggle to score from indirect freekicks when the opposition are positioned on the goal line, but they must take a look at Celtic for inspiration. Hartson hovered over the ball and noticed Maloney as soon as the ref blew, Maloney steadied and directed a well paced shot through the only gap in the line and into the net.
The goal in the 87th minute may have been a hard punishment for Motherwell but the finish was superb and Maloney can only be praised for it.
Martyn Corrigan might feel that he let his team-mates down with his poor passback, but he may also feel hard done by when he runs the tape back and realises that Motherwell deserved to win. Not only for their dominance, but the two penalty chances that were turned down. Both incidents were firm calls and most referees would have given them, but some may say that McDonald made the ref's mind up for the first when he declined to claim, instead opting to jump up to try and continue the attack.
Although the favourites won on the day, Shaun Maloney was supportive to the losing team, claiming 'they deserved more from the game', and credit must be given when it is due. The young starlet was the influence for Celtic when they made the attacks but he was clearly overawed by the performance of Motherwell.
The final will now be contested between Dunfermline and Celtic, but John Hartson will miss out, after he was booked for a tackle on Motherwell's keeper. The decision was correct for the yellow card, but should a player miss a final for a yellow card in a semi-final?? Surely the yellow card count should be cancelled out after the quarter-finals??
Motherwell 1 - 2 Celtic
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Source: Steve Johnston |
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