Celtic return to the top

MOTHERWELL: Celtic returned to the summit of the Scottish Premiership despite missing a host of chances in a 1-0 win over Motherwell at Fir Park yesterday.

Aberdeen’s 2-0 defeat away to Ross County on Friday - their third straight loss in the league - meant Celtic knew they could leapfrog the Dons at the top of the table if they could avoid defeat to Motherwell. After some early pressure it was Nadir Ciftci, making his first start in the league for the Hoops since joining from Dundee United in the summer, who fired Celtic in front in the 15th minute after Kris Commons’ initial effort had been saved. The Glasgow giants then missed a number of opportunities to add to their advantage while they had two good claims for penalties turned down by referee Alan Muir as Mark McGhee’s return as Motherwell manager got off to a losing start.

Victory sends Celtic two points clear of Aberdeen at the top of the table and gives them a morale boost ahead of their trip to Norway to take on Molde in the Europa League on Thursday.

“For 70 minutes it was very satisfying but we should have scored more goals and we should have had at least one penalty, maybe two,” Celtic manager Ronny Deila said.

“In the last 20 minutes we should have been braver on the ball and kept it more so we didn’t have to stress so much.” Motherwell manager Mark McGhee thought the result was about right. “The first half we felt like we were playing with a missing player but there was a 20 minute spell at the end when we did a lot better,” McGhee, in his second spell in charge, said. “We might have nicked something but I think them winning 1-0 was just about the balance of the game.” Celtic made three changes for the match as Ciftci was handed a rare start up front in place of top scorer Leigh Griffiths, who could only find a place on the bench after recovering from an injury picked up on international duty.—AFP