FROM NEIL DOHERTY IN GLASGOW: With less than 15 minutes left here at Celtic Park today, it was beginning to look as if 2013 was going to bring a losing start for the Hoops.
But football can change quickly – and thankfully it did as Celtic overcame Motherwell by a single goal to go nine points clear in the SPL.
It could have been so different.
Celtic had dominated the game and should have been ahead by the time ‘Well’s Jamie Murphy jinked into the Celtic box and completed a dive worthy of Olympic gold (or even an Oscar!).
Fraser Forster was then booked as he complained that Tom Hateley had placed the ball ahead of the penalty spot. Ref Mclean was not having a good day.
Forster showed his world class by pulling off a superb save to keep the game scoreless.
Just three minutes later Celtic went up the other end and took the lead.
Super Gary Hooper broke out of midfield, fed the ball to his left where Samaras went racing up the wing before returning a superb ball back to Hooper who squeezed home a superb winner.
Celtic coach Garry Parker was full of praise for his team after the game – and in particular his goalie.
“He’s a great goalie – he’s in the England squad and it’s fully deserved,” said Parker.
“You always fancy him at penalties, he’s a big lad and he’s a good goalie.
“We’ve played very well, we created a number of chances. We just couldn’t break them down – they defended well.
“We had 18 shots on goal and we broke them down late on. We deserved the goal and we deserved the three points.”
Celtic now go into their winter break – but aren’t taking anything for granted, said Parker.
“We just wanted to win the game and go nine points clear,” he added.
“We’ve got that game in hand over Inverness and we’ve just got to keep going and winning games.
“Everybody’s beating everybody – we lost last week, so it’s difficult.
“They’ve played a lot of football, we’ve had a lot of games. We’re in a position where we want to be and it’s a good time to have a break.”