Celtic’s youth side found the going tough as Motherwell battled their way to a 1-1 draw at Lennoxtown yesterday.
Filip Twardzik opened the scoring for John Kennedy’s side after 16 minutes but an unstoppable 25 yard drive from Keiran MacDonald nine minutes from the interval levelled the scores and earned Motherwell a point.
The draw leaves Celtic a point behind leaders Hearts who travel to Inverness on Tuesday before meeting Celtic on Friday.
“We made it difficult for ourselves,” Kennedy admitted looking back on the match. “We lost our way a bit in the first half but looked more compact and played more like we can after the break.
“Lewis (Kidd) gave us a bit more shape and was unlucky with a shot late on that was cleared off the line. We hit the woodwork twice and Tony Watt had a goal disallowed so everyone was disappointed at dropping points.
“Motherwell were a good side, they were well drilled and organised and made it difficult for us.”
A midweek injury for Curtis Jones saw u-17 defender Stuart Findlay promoted while a first minute head injury for John Herron further disrupted the home side’s plans.
Despite those set-backs Celtic deservedly took the lead in the 16th minute. Tony Watt bullied his way in from the left wing to cut the ball across the goalmouth with Twardzik reacting sharply to net from six yards out.
Ten minutes later a dipping shot from Jackson Irvine struck the bar as the home side chased the second goal but there were signs that Motherwell were finding their feet and taking a grip in midfield before MacDonald curled an unstoppable 25 yarder round Robbie Thomson to level the scores.
Lewis Kiss replaced Rhys Williamson at the break as Celtic matched up in midfield with a solo effort from Gormley and low drive from Twardzik troubling the Motherwell defence.
Signs that it was going to be a frustrating day for Celtic were confirmed when Tony Watt was marginally offside when he netted in the 70th minute.
Omar Bogle replaced Paul George with six minutes to go but despite having the bulk of possession Celtic were unable to force a winning goal.
While the points dropped were an obvious disappointment the introduction of Findlay at the back was an obvious bonus.
“Rather than shuffle the team around we brought in Stuart and he did very well,” Kennedy added. “He’s not had much experience with the 19s but linked up well with Marcus Fraser.
“Stuart put in a couple of great tackles and Marcus is becoming a big influence on the team, he has a big presence and drives the team on by example from the back.”
CELTIC Thompson, Miller, Fraser, Findlay’ Chalmers; Herron (Gormley 2), Irvine, F Twardzik, Williamson (Kidd 46); George (Bogle 84), Watt
SUBS Daniels, Yaqub, Fisher, Atajic
Motherwell: Muir, Brownlie, Cummins, Murray, Francis-Angol, Hetherington, Watt, Mboa Mekongo, Moore, MacDonald, McGachie
Subs: Stewart, Erwin, Lynch, Leitch, Green
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Joe, is filips twin Patrick injured?
Patrik was injured away against Marseilles.
Thanks, thought I hadn’t seen his name for a while
hi Joe – TW tweeted yesterday sayin the Hertz match up at ICT Dingwall scheduled for Tues 1pm is OFF. Never thought about it at the time but am assumin its cos o the wild weather – hertz are 4 and 0, as they say, so will be a tough game on Friday for the Celts over in the east – just hope nobody runs on and wallops Tommy or big JK !!
intae them !
This age group goes in cycles, Hearts look like favorites for the league this year, Celtic not as strong as they ve been over the last 2 years, so unlikely to be a ‘3rd double”, but time will tell.