‘Well boss: We had Celtic on the rack
CELTIC ....................................................... 2 MOTHERWELL ........................................ 1 Euan Robertson at Celtic Park
Motherwell boss Graham Alexander felt his side had Celtic on the rack in the final stages of their 2-1 defeat on Saturday.
The Steelmen came agonisingly close to equalising at the death, when Diego Laxalt cleared Harry Smith’s header off the line with almost the last action of the game.
A nightmare start saw Stephen Welsh head in David Turnbull’s corner inside the opening two minutes and Odsonne
Edouard added a clincher early in the second half.
But after Allan Campbell pulled a goal back in 66 minutes, Alexander felt his side were in the ascendency at the end.
He said: “Obviously the goal at the start of the second half gave them a cushion, but I thought we grew into the game and showed more confidence on the ball.
“We trusted each other with it. “Once we got the goal I thought we had them on the rack.
“We had them putting clearances out, slashing at stuff, clearing balls off the line.
“We went for it, so credit to the players.
“I thought they were exceptional because we know what a tough ask it is coming here, but they stuck to the gameplan.
“We were a couple of millimetres short of getting a valuable point.”
Motherwell got off to the worst possible start when, with just over a minute on the clock, Welsh met former Fir Park favourite Turnbull’s corner and bulleted a header past Liam Kelly.
They didn’t start the second half much better, and Edouard doubled Celtic’s advantage in 51 minutes with a lovely low finish.
Motherwell improved as the second half progressed, and the impresive Campbell reduced the deficit when his speculative shot deflected off Kristoffer Ajer and looped over Scott Bain.
The Steelmen created good opportunities in the final 15 minutes, but the disappointing start cost them.
Alexander said: “The set-piece goal was a real disappointment for us, because it was a cheap goal to concede, but after that Liam has made one good save with his feet in the second half.
“We conceded in our gameplan that we would allow Celtic to have the ball in certain areas.
“We wanted to be compact and defend the area where they score goals.”