Substitutes Used
Burley(s71)
McKinlay(s78)
Burchill(s83)

Motherwell 1 - 7 Celtic

Kick off 6pm Sunday 21st February

Attendance 9,538

A brilliant performance by Celtic's Henrik Larsson gave Jo Venglos' bhoys a 7-1 victory against what is traditionally something of a bogey team, Motherwell at Fir Park. Larsson brought his scoring tally to an incredible 31 this season as Celtic closed the gap on Rangers to ten points. John Spencer, recently signed from Everton was needlessly but rightly sent off for violent conduct and may have brought furthur trouble upon himself by gesticulating towards the Celtic faithful as he departed the fieldsparked a stormy game and allowed free-scoring Celtic to runaway with the contest. Larsson scored an early penalty to open the scoring after Mahe was brought down, a soft penalty if ever there was one. Motherwell put themselves briefly on level terms before Lubomir Moravcik's magnificent free kick restored Celtic's lead. In the second-half Larsson collected three more goals however the Swede's excellent goalscoring performance was eclipsed by a remarkable string of misses by the wretched Harald Brattbakk. I more than most have shown great patience with regard to Brattbakk, sometimes it appears that he has ESP as he gets into so many goalscoring positions. It is regrettable that a combination of poor touch and wrecked confidence has left him surely very close to the end of his Celtic career. With Mark Viduka close to fitness and young Mark Burchill surely worthy of a start the Norweigan must surely be running out of chances. To add insult to injury Mark Burchill did come on and managed to score with his first touch. Craig Burley also managed to get on the scoresheet in his first appearance after a four month lay off and was clearly delighted to be back. The only dampener on a splendid evening was a late hamstring injury to Lubo Moravcic which looked serious and may keep the Slovakian star out for around a month.

Substitutes Used
Nevin(s30)
Adams(s63)
Ross(s70)