Celtic beat ‘Well and go top

by Setanta staff , 29 December 2010

Celtic went to the top of the Scottish Premier League thanks a 1-0 home win over Motherwell on Wednesday night.


Paddy McCourt’s first-half goal was enough for the Hoops to take a one-point advantage over Rangers at the summit of the table, although the Gers have played two games less.

Celtic finished Wednesday’s clash with 10 men after Scott Brown was shown red late on.

The hosts dominated the early minutes, with defender Emilio Izaguirre blasting over from close range after visiting ‘keeper Darren Randolph had spilled a Joe Ledley shot.

Olivier Kapo, making his first Celtic start, had a goal ruled out for offside on 12 minutes, before Paddy McCourt headed wide from James Forrest's cross.

The Bhoys finally went ahead after 27 minutes, as Mark Wilson found McCourt, who made his way into the Motherwell box and curled an effort beyond Randolph.

Celtic continued to control the clash, as Ledley fired narrowly wide after being put in by Anthony Stokes, but could not add to their lead before the break.

Seven minutes prior to half-time, Neil Lennon was forced to bring Kapo’s night to early end, replacing the Frenchman with Daryl Murphy.

A few minutes after the break, Murphy limped off and was in turn replaced by Beram Kayal.

The visitors then enjoyed their best period, culminating in Chris Humphrey finding Marc Fitzpatrick with a cross, but the frontman failed to connect well from six yards, before Alan Gow headed into the arms of Fraser Forster.

Celtic steadied the ship thereafter, though Brown picked up his second booking of the evening and was dismissed in injury time.

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Pos
Team P W D L +/- PTS
1.
Man City
38
28
5
5
64
89
2.
Man Utd
38
28
5
5
56
89
3.
Arsenal
38
21
7
10
25
70
4.
Tottenham
38
20
9
9
25
69
5.
Newcastle
38
19
8
11
5
65
6.
Chelsea
38
18
10
10
19
64
7.
Everton
38
15
11
12
10
56
8.
Liverpool
38
14
10
14
7
52
9.
Fulham
38
14
10
14
-3
52
10.
West Brom
38
13
8
17
-7
47
11.
Swansea
38
12
11
15
-7
47
12.
Norwich
38
12
11
15
-14
47
13.
Sunderland
38
11
12
15
-1
45
14.
Stoke
38
11
12
15
-17
45
15.
Wigan
38
11
10
17
-20
43
16.
Aston Villa
38
7
17
14
-16
38
17.
QPR
38
10
7
21
-23
37
18.
Bolton
38
10
6
22
-31
36
19.
Blackburn
38
8
7
23
-30
31
20.
Wolverhampton
38
5
10
23
-43
25
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