Dramatic title race nearly drives Sir Rod to distraction

Excited, and perhaps a little on edge, Sir Rod Stewart sat in the stands at Fir Park on Wednesday evening, watching his Celtic FC take on Motherwell FC away from home. When the match kicked off, the Glasgow superfan had no idea what a dramatic spectacle lay in store for him.
The situation going into the match: the remaining title contenders, Celtic (2nd in the table) and Heart of Midlothian (top of the table), were separated by exactly one point ahead of this matchday, with the Hearts boasting a superior goal difference.

At Fir Park, Celtic struggled to get into their stride at first. Motherwell, who had already made life difficult for the Hearts in their 1-1 draw at the weekend, set the tone early on and took the lead after 17 minutes through Elliott Watt. News of Celtic falling behind spread like wildfire to Tynecastle Park in Edinburgh. Spurred on by this, the Hearts took a 2-0 lead within minutes through Frankie Kent (29’) and Cameron Devlin (34’). With the score at this stage, the Hearts would have been crowned champions ahead of schedule.
But Celtic fought back; shortly before the half-time whistle, Daizen Maeda capitalised on the defending champions’ first and only chance to level the score at 1-1 (41’). After the break, the reigning champions stepped up the pressure: in the 58th minute, Sweden’s Benjamin Nygren put the Hoops ahead with a powerful shot into the top corner. At the same time – and knowing Celtic were in the lead – Hearts did everything they could in the parallel match to extend their goal difference.

But then the drama unfolded. First, Celtic conceded the 2-2 equaliser against a resurgent Motherwell side in the 85th minute – Liam Gordon struck a blow to the very heart of the Hoops and the numerous Celtic supporters in the stands. Almost simultaneously, 39 miles away in Edinburgh, Blair Spittal made it 3-0 for Hearts (86th minute). At that point, and given the league table, Celtic would have had to beat Hearts by a four-goal margin in Saturday’s head-to-head clash to defend the title after all. It wasn’t just Rod in the stands who knew that this would be a near-impossible task against the strong league leaders. But the football gods were kind to manager Martin O’Neill’s men. In the final minute of the five-minute injury time, Motherwell’s Sam Nicholson committed a handball during a defensive challenge in his own penalty area in a header duel with Auston Trusty. Referee John Beaton was called to the review zone at the touchline by the VAR and then actually awarded a penalty to Celtic! Kelechi Iheanacho stepped up and converted from the spot in the 90th+9 minute to secure a victory for the visitors from Glasgow that was celebrated by thousands.

In the away section, the fans threw their arms around each other, danced and shouted their joy in the euphoria of victory. Up in the stands, even Sir Rod couldn’t contain himself, hugging his neighbours as if there were no tomorrow. Exuberant celebrations for the Hoops, then, whereas in Edinburgh the joy was rather subdued, as the score remained 3-0, meaning Celtic still hold their title defence in their own hands ahead of Saturday’s head-to-head clash. With a win – by whatever margin – Celtic captain Callum McGregor would be able to lift the championship trophy into the skies above Glasgow this weekend. Any other result, however, would see Heart of Midlothian win the Scottish Premiership for the first time since 1960 – that is, after 66 years.
You don’t need to be a prophet to imagine that Celtic, Sir Rod and all the fans of the Bhoys in Green could be in for another 90 nerve-wracking minutes on Saturday.