Celtic 3-0 Motherwell: Skippy on Fire

By: JT | October 29th, 2007

Aussie legend Scott McDonald fired Celtic to a 3-0 victory over Motherwell at Celtic Park on Saturday, coming back to haunt the club that made him famous. McDonald, who was curiously left on the bench for the midweek Champions League tussle with Benfica, looked to prove a point to the gaffer, and this performance has to make the man undroppable under any circumstances.

After a spotty opening thirty minutes, which were undoubtedly a result of the Benfica loss and the hammering a week before at Ibrox, Celtic took control of the match. Shortly after a disastrous outlet toss from Artur Boruc almost cost the Hoops, the smallest man on the pitch latched onto a corner from the reinstated Shunsuke Nakamura and headed home for the opener. A million Celtic fans across the globe then wondered aloud and in unison, “Why the hell wasn’t Scott McDonald on the pitch in Lisbon?”.

Right before the half, Celtic nearly went two up when Well defender Stephen Craigan smashed a Chris Killen shot against his own post after a neat one-two between Paul Hartley and Lee Naylor. I’m actually beginning to find Killen to be quite a useful player for the Celts, especially when Jan the Man can’t go, which is about a million miles from where I was when the club first announced his signing.

A sensational effort from Aiden McGeady hit the cross bar from about twenty yards out in the 51st minute, and Celtic’s dominance was on. A shockingly good ball from Naylor stranded two napping Well defenders and left McDonald with only the keeper to beat, which he did with his customary cool. McDonald was felled in the box by the aforementioned Craigan, and he converted easily in the 88th minute for his second Celtic hat-trick in less than three months as Bhoy.

Celtic are now all alone at the summit of the Scottish Premier League after eleven matches. Rangers comically lost to surprising Dundee United 2-1, and Hibs went down for the second straight match. Celtic now lead Rangers and the Tangerines by three points with Hibs in fourth, four points off the pace.