Records on the mind as Celtic stroll to win over Motherwell
THE man who blocked 10-in-a-row was at Celtic Park to watch the 2017 Hoops display their potential to succeed where Rangers fell short.
Wim Jansen led the Parkhead club to title glory in 1997-98 ending nine years of their rivals’ dominance.
And having also pulled off the neat trick of signing up a Swedish striker by the name of Henrik Larsson, he is remembered with warm affection in the East End of Glasgow a decade on.
Of course, today’s side managed by Brendan Rodgers aren’t trying to stop records so much as set them.
This victory was their 25th successive domestic win and their 20th straight in the league.
It moved them ever closer to their sixth top flight title in a row and to the British league record of 25 successive wins set by Martin O’Neill’s Celtic in 2003-04.
“Could I see them go the whole season unbeaten? Yes,” said losing manager Mark McGhee.
“Joe Chalmers struggled a bit with James Forrest at the second goal but there is not a full-back in Scotland who would have lived with him at the moment– his pace, his energy and his brightness.
“Having said that, if Aberdeen can play as well as they did against us the other night then they will give them a good game because I thought they were brilliant – that is as good as I have seen them in a long time.”
After that tempestuous encounter at Pittodrie saw McGhee sent to the stand, Motherwell came into this one seeking to go back to basics.
Their preparations were to be hit by two early injury blows.
First, Steven Hammell got injured in the warm-up and had to be replaced in the starting line up by Chalmers.
Then, when the action started, Stephen McManus went down almost immediately and though he recovered after treatment he lasted just a handful of minutes before limping off.
Impressively, Motherwell took the losses in their stride, digging in with such application that for the first quarter of the game practically nothing happened.
And when a decent chance did present itself the home side were too startled to take it.
Liam Henderson was the culprit, shooting haplessly wide after keeper Craig Samson had palmed Forrest’s shot straight into his path.
It was only a temporary let-off for the visitors with Celtic grabbing the lead with a penalty both created and converted by man of the moment Moussa Dembele.
The French striker, scorer of backto-back hat-tricks in his previous two outings, drew a foul in the box from Zak Jules.
Referee Don Robertson pointed straight to the spot from where he confidently side-footed home into the corner of Samson’s right-hand post.
Dembele was to feature prominently too in the Hoops’ second, sending Forrest free down the right.
Picking up speed all the time, the Scotland winger twisted this way and that, beating Chalmers all ends up, before driving a low shot into the corner.
The loss of a second goal was a significant blow to Motherwell, who had themselves earlier been denied an equaliser when Craig Gordon saved a decent effort from Stephen Pearson.
In the end, Celtic’s victory could, and probably should, have been more emphatic with Scott Sinclair blasting high over the bar from great position.
“This is as good as winning 6-0 last week as it shows we can do both sides of the game,” argued Forrest afterwards.
“We spoke before the game about trying to get a few shots on goal in the first 20 minutes but that didn’t happen.
“We took our time, though once we got the first goal we felt more confident.
“A few times this season, when we haven’t been at our best, we’ve still managed to keep a clean sheet and win the game – that’s a good sign.”
Quite.
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