Motherwell out for the count in Hampden rumble
Like any prize fight, the build-up was tense. But it was nothing anybody hadn’t seen before.
The Scottish Cup Final an hour away – Hampden filling up slowly, two teams warming up in the rising May heat. Then, there it was – that voice. Boxing announcer Michael Buffer’s bread and butter is calling heavyweights to the ring. At Hampden he had his cake and ate it too, invited by the SFA to read out the names (all 42 of them, including match officials) on the team sheet like a stable of fighters.
Then, he roared: “Let’s get ready to RUMBLLLE!” as the teams took the field, and the flames and fireworks soared. The fans rose with them, pushing the volume into the stratosphere – seconds out, round one.
Two minutes in, there it was, the first blow, Dembele running at Kipre in the inside left channel.
The Celtic man twisted inside and tried a dinked cross to the back post, but Well keeper Trevor Carson got there as the quickly-rocked Kipre steadied himself.
In the early stages, Motherwell were on the front foot, fighting inside Celtic’s guard.
But they were leaving themselves open – and the float-like-a-butterfly Hoops stung like a bee through Callum Mcgregor.
Motherwell’s bell was well and truly rung. Celtic, like
the seasoned champions they are, showed no mercy.
Dembele’s contest with Kipre, sent off twice against the Hoops this season, was proving a complete mismatch. The Well defender was bizarrely branded “the bread man” in the match programme by his captain, Carl Mchugh.
It was fitting then that Dembele had him on toast. With Kipre a full three yards away, the Celtic striker first fired a warning shot just over Carson’s head. Then, under nowhere near enough pressure, he laid off a perfect ball for Olivier Ntcham to make it 2-0, his effort taking a fateful glancing blow off the crumbling Kipre’s leg on the way through. Just 25 minutes in, Motherwell looked spent. Then they started swinging. Richard Tate was booked for a late swipe at Kieran Tierney before Liam Grimshaw saw yellow for the same offence.
It was the Steelmen at their cynical worst.
But they were at their confounding best just after the round two starting bell when Curtis Main drew a stunning save from Craig Gordon.
To their credit, they didn’t throw in the towel, and almost found a way through the Hoops’ late rope-a-dope act when Gael Bigirimana struck the woodwork.
But against this team of double-treble-winning Celtic greats, Motherwell, for all their fight, were simply out-moved, outthought, and, in the end, knocked-out.