Celtic strike late at Motherwell to keep title hopes alive

Celtic scored twice in stoppage time as Brendan Rodgers’ side came from behind to beat Motherwell 3-1 to keep their Scottish Premiership title hopes alive.

After Rangers’ 5-0 win over Hearts on Saturday, Brendan Rodgers’ side knew they needed a response, but were punished for a lacklustre first-half display when Blair Spittal whipped the ball beyond the diving Joe Hart and into the far corner in the 43rd minute to give the hosts a deserved lead just before half time.

However, Celtic were much improved after the break and substitute Adam Idah, who replaced Kyogo Furuhashi at half-time, made an instant impact, heading Greg Taylor’s cross past Liam Kelly for the equaliser in the 51st minute.

Daizen Maeda spurned two big opportunities before Liam Scales forced Kelly into action as Celtic pushed for a winner.

With time running out, Idah poked home to complete the turnaround (90+4) and spark wild celebrations in the away end before Luis Palma (90+6) made sure of what could prove to be a crucial three points in the title race.

Celtic move back to within two points of leaders Rangers and this title race looks set to go down to the wire.

Late drama! How Celtic kept their title hopes alive…

Celtic were slow out of the blocks at Fir Park with Sky Sports‘ Chris Sutton describing Rodgers’ side’s opening 20-minute performance as ‘hesitant’ and ‘tentative’.

The visitors high line was almost undone as early as the third minute when Theo Bair got in behind before cutting back past Liam Scales and producing a cool low finish under Joe Hart. However, the offside flag was raised with VAR confirming the decision to be correct to let Celtic off the hook.

It was a warning sign for Celtic, who dominated possession in the opening 45 minutes but rarely threatened the Motherwell goal. Liam Kelly had only one real save to make when he denied Kyogo from close range.

Celtic’s sloppy first-half performance was eventually punished as Motherwell took a deserved lead just before the break. 17-year-old Lennon Miller bamboozled the Celtic defence with a lovely turn before setting up Spittal, who produced a fantastic first-time strike beyond Hart and into the far corner to shock Celtic.

At the break, Rodgers responded by bringing Idah on for Furuhashi, who appeared to hurt his troublesome shoulder late in the first half. The Irishman made an instant impact, getting a run on Dan Casey to meet Taylor’s cross and power a header home from 12 yards.

The goal did not initially shift the momentum, though. Hart pulled off a brilliant stop from Miller’s header and Vale threatened twice, the second time when tackling the Celtic goalkeeper, who was relieved to see the ball go wide.

But the champions began to exert more pressure. Cameron Carter-Vickers came off the bench to add assurance to the Celtic defence and fellow substitute Hyun-Jun Yang was causing far more problems for the home team than the man he replaced, Nicolas Kuhn.

Liam Scales had a header saved, Daizen Maeda failed to get any of three chances on target and O’Riley saw a shot charged down by the Motherwell wall after Calum Butcher had hauled Idah to the ground after being turned on the edge of the box.

Willie Collum booked the Motherwell player and stuck to his decision despite being called to the monitor for a potential red-card review.

The pressure grew and Idah got ahead of his marker to convert Johnston’s low cross before Palma tapped home Yang’s ball across the face of goal to round off an important win for Celtic.

Sutton: Celtic need to use second-half display as a catalyst for run-in

Sky Sports’ Chris Sutton at Fir Park:

“Relief for Brendan Rodgers! Relief for Celtic! No titles won just yet.

“Celtic did this the hard way. It’s a big three points but Motherwell pushed them all the way.

“They didn’t rock up in the first half, but they will just be believing after this late win.

“There will be a few twists to come yet in this title race.

“This is now about Celtic using this second-half performance as a catalyst for what’s to come in the run-in because this will go right down to the wire.”