Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers was delighted to see the strength of his squad pay off as Luke McCowan netted amid the absence of the injured Callum McGregor in a 3-0 win at Motherwell.
Goals from stand-in skipper Alistair Johnston and substitute Adam Idah helped Rodgers to by far his most comfortable victory at Fir Park, a ground where he had dropped points three times and seen his side net stoppage-time winners three times during six visits.
Motherwell midfielder Lennon Miller hit both a post and the bar before McCowan opened the scoring with an 18-yard drive after opening up space himself to shoot.
“I’m so happy for him,” Rodgers said. “As a Celtic supporter coming in, maybe there’s that enthusiasm first of all, but then that wears off.
“But he performs with great energy, a great passion for the game, and he has quality. Callum obviously wasn’t going to play, so the idea was to bring him in because he’s a goal threat, and I thought he was going to do really well.
“You see that in every game he plays, he looks like he can create goals or score a goal.”
Rodgers made four changes in all following the midweek draw with Atalanta.
“We were able to rest Arne (Engels), who’s come in as a young player and played so many games, the distance he covered in midweek was huge,” he said. “I’m obviously very grateful to the club for getting the players in that allows us to do that.”
Cameron Carter-Vickers made his comeback from injury off the bench while McGregor is a doubt for the midweek visit of Dundee with a hip strain but is expected to be fit for Saturday’s Premier Sports Cup semi-final against Aberdeen.
“It shouldn’t be too serious,” Rodgers said. “It was really mature, because maybe before he might not have mentioned it. He had a wee feeling after the training session.
“Rather than take any risk with it, we didn’t want to put him on to maybe stretch it and then be out for a number of weeks. So, hopefully he’ll be fine over these next few days, and if not Wednesday, then hopefully he should be fine for next weekend.”
Motherwell manager Stuart Kettlewell felt the game hinged on some missed chances for his team and a break of the ball for McCowan.
“I thought the first quarter of the game we were excellent, carved out a number of good opportunities, hit the woodwork a couple of times, and looked pretty comfortable,” he said.
“We have to capitalise on those chances when they come along. I think we did well to carve them out.
“Celtic got the goal which I thought was a bit fortuitous. I know you make your own luck in this game but there was a wee bit of a ricochet for McCowan to get through and then he finishes it well.
“Up until the point of the Celtic second goal, we felt we were well in the game. I felt we were in a place we needed to be and then the second goal is a killer blow.”
Kettlewell felt Liam Gordon’s VAR-assisted stoppage-time red card for a lunging tackle on Idah was “harsh”. The defender will miss Motherwell’s next two league games but not their semi-final against Rangers, as all suspensions for red cards are now competition specific.
Kettlewell said: “The first thing you see on a screen is still images and it looks bad, of course.
“I spoke to the referee after it in a calm fashion just to ask what he saw in the challenge. He spoke about hinging the Celtic player’s ankle but my counter argument to that is your talking about Liam Gordon at full stretch at that point not really with any force whatsoever trying to get a toe-end on the ball.
“I acknowledge he doesn’t get that toe-end on the ball which I thought he did at the time but I don’t think he’s come in with any reckless intent or trying to injure the Celtic player.”
Interim boss Stephen Frail expects Motherwell to appoint a new manager next week and admits their first job will be to lift the players’ confidence after a 3-0 mauling at home to Ross County.A double from Ronan Hale and Connor Randall’s last-minute strike secured an impressive victory for the Staggies at Fir Park.Defeat sees the Steelmen drop into the bottom half of the Premiership tab...
Mark Hughes heaped praise on goalkeeper Gabe Breeze after Carlisle picked up a vital point in the League Two relegation battle with a goalless draw against in-form Colchester at Brunton Park.Breeze made two excellent saves from Lyle Taylor as the Cumbrians ended a four-game losing run and the former Man City boss was astounded by the 21-year-old’s performance.He said: “The game had som...
Chesterfield boss Paul Cook launched a scathing attack on his play-off hopefuls after they surrendered an early lead to lose 3-1 at Sky Bet League Two table-toppers Walsall.The Spireites enjoyed a rapid start when Jamie Grimes’ eighth-minute header put them ahead against a wobbling Walsall side, who were winless in five matches with the chasing pack closing in.However, Bim Pepple and Dylan D...
Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola has allayed fears of an injury scare to top scorer Erling Haaland ahead of next week’s Champions League trip to Real Madrid.Haaland went down clutching his leg in the latter stages of the champions’ 4-0 Premier League thrashing of Newcastle at the Etihad Stadium on Saturday and was immediately substituted.Losing the Norwegian would be a major blow to ...
Rotherham manager Steve Evans described Thomas Parsons’ performance as “atrocious” after the referee awarded a stoppage-time penalty from which Reading snatched a 2-1 victory in League One.Reading had led 1-0 at half-time through top scorer Harvey Knibbs but Sam Nombe levelled for Rotherham from a spot-kick in the 57th minute.With the game heading for a draw, Parsons adjudged Mil...
Michael Flynn believes his team can make a charge towards the League Two play-offs places after watching them come from 2-0 down to beat Barrow 3-2 at home.Matty Taylor scored twice before fellow substitute Ashley Hay hit the winner as the Robins continued their perfect home record in 2025.Cheltenham climbed to 13th in the table and sit eight points off seventh-placed Crewe with two games in hand....
Birmingham manager Chris Davies praised Jay Stansfield’s work ethic after he lit up St Andrew’s with the only goal of a 1-0 win to sink play-off chasing Charlton.Stansfield’s 23rd-minute strike stretched City’s lead to nine points ahead of second-placed Wycombe, with Blues boasting a game in hand.Victory was City’s 30th in all competitions as they extended their unbea...
Andoni Iraola refused to get carried away after Bournemouth fans were left dreaming of a potential Champions League adventure following a first league double over south-coast rivals Southampton.Travelling Cherries fans chanted of playing in European football’s premier competition next season after their side soared to fifth spot in the Premier League table thanks to a deserved 3-1 success at...
Norwich head coach Johannes Hoff Thorup praised his side for fighting back to draw 1-1 at Hull after he demanded “I want to see my football team back”.The Norwich boss had some tough words for his team as they trailed 1-0 at half-time to the relegation-threatened side, including for Kellen Fisher – but the player then delivered the assist for Josh Sargent’s equaliser.The Un...
Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers says Jota has a chance of starting against Bayern Munich after scoring and impressing in a 3-0 victory over Dundee United.Jota earned the club’s man-of-the-match award after cutting in from the left and curling home from 18 yards to double the lead given to the hosts by another impressive finish from Callum McGregor.The Portuguese winger has now started two gam...
