McGHEE: I FEARED IT MIGHT BE TWO MORE

MARK McGhee feared Celtic were about to inflict a second nine-goal humiliation on his managerial CV.

The Motherwell boss managed Aberdeen when they suffered the indignity of a 9-0 defeat at Parkhead in November 2010.

And, as the champions streaked to 6-0 after an hour of play, the Fir Park boss became worried it was happening again.

‘Was I thinking about it?’ asked McGhee. ‘Absolutely. When you are six down after 59 minutes, of course you are.

‘To get to 90 minutes at seven wasn’t a bad result. It’s a horrible feeling, too right it is.

‘It’s a horrible feeling to be 3-0 down at half-time and there’s nothing you can do about it.

‘This has happened to me before. That day I felt I had a team that was capable of losing 9-0.

‘I didn’t think I had a side that was capable of losing 7-0 today. That’s why I am more surprised than anything.’

Motherwell finish fifth in the Premiership, a position which looked beyond them when McGhee took charge in October.

Victory on their last visit to Celtic Park, in December, triggered an upsurge in fortunes. In recent months they were Scotland’s form team.

Putting a seven-goal thrashing down to a holiday vibe amongst his players, Scotland assistant boss McGhee insists he will live with the loss.

‘I was optimistic coming here today. I didn’t see that coming,’ he said. ‘We didn’t pass the ball and didn’t work hard enough as a team.

‘We looked as though we had downed tools and were ready for the summer.

‘I’m not going to dwell on it because they have done brilliantly. The performances have been flat out but we ran out of energy.

‘It was a disjointed performance that invited Celtic on to us.

‘There comes a point when the energy and desire to get back into the game is not there.

‘I felt that was the case. There wasn’t much I could do apart from hope the change in shape might make it more difficult for Celtic.

‘But we didn’t do half as well as we wanted as a group.

‘It’s disappointing but it’s not catastrophic as it doesn’t affect our position in the league.

‘We will go away, lick our wounds and be ready after the summer.’