Murphy scored the winner from the penalty spot at Fir Park

By Clive Lindsay

Daryl Murphy scored his first goal for Celtic as they overcame Motherwell with a late penalty at Fir Park to go top of the Scottish Premier League.

Shaun Maloney was Celtic's main threat, forcing a fine save from Darren Randolph and firing into the side netting during the first half.

Motherwell settled after the break and looked like they might steal a point.

But Steve Saunders was sent off for a foul on Maloney after 73 minutes and Murphy hammered home from the spot.

Celtic manager Neil Lennon had handed debuts to Fraser Forster and Emilio Izaguirre as he made five changes to the team crushed 4-0 by Utrecht in Thursday's Europa League qualifier.

Glenn Loovens, Shaun Maloney and Daryl Murphy also came in, with Efrain Juarez, Jos Hooiveld and Beram Kayal dropping to the bench and Marc Antoine-Fortune having been sold to West Brom.

Izaguirre (left) made his Celtic debut against Motherwell

Motherwell exposed the re-organised back four within two minutes of kick-off.

And John Sutton ought to have done better than head wide from five yards after being found at the front post by a low Tom Hateley free-kick to the front post.

But Celtic did not take long to show the kind of extra commitment demanded by Lennon in his pre-match interviews.

And it required a superb, one-handed save from home goalkeeper Randolph to deny Maloney following James Forrest's cross to the edge of the six-yard box.

Maloney had another chance in Celtic's next attack when he won a free-kick off Stephen Craigan on the edge of the box.

The Scotland forward looked to have thrown himself at the defender and justice was perhaps done when Maloney failed to instil enough dip on the ball as it skimmed the top of the crossbar.

Randolph came to Motherwell's rescue again when a Murphy shot deflected off the knee of Craigan and looked to be looping over the goalkeeper until he managed to turn it over the bar with his fingertips.

Motherwell, who had suffered their own Europa League misery on Thursday against Odense, were struggling to create anything from their increasing command of possession after weathering the early Celtic storm.

Motherwell, with Steve Jennings back from suspension in place of Nick Blackman, were forced to make another change after 34 minutes when Steven Hammell went off injured to be replaced with Jonathan Page.

Rather than knock them out of their stride, the change led to a spell of pressure during which a Loovens clearance looped over his own goalkeeper but spun wide of the back post.

Maloney carved out a chance for himself with a weaving run into the box, beating three defenders but then slicing into the side-netting from 10 yards as the first-half ended goalless.

Motherwell again survived the early buzz of activity around their penalty box after the break and the game descended into an untidy mess of misplaced midfield passes.

However, the introduction of Paddy McCourt for the ineffectual Georgios Samaras turned the game and Celtic made the breakthrough after 73 minutes.

Slack defending allowed Maloney to race clear and referee Dougie McDonald awarded a penalty as the forward collapsed under pressure from the chasing Saunders.

With the defender shown a straight red card, Murphy sent Randolph the wrong way from the spot to ensure Celtic retain their 100% league record.

E-mail this to a friend

Printable version