Celtic 0-1 Motherwell: Strachan says title is 'near impossible' as Celtic tailspin continues

Celtic 0
Motherwell 1 Lappin (33)

CLASSICALLY educated or not, Gordon Strachan will have a deep understanding of what Hamlet meant when he referred to "the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune".

Figuratively speaking, the little Celtic manager once again had to duck to avoid the verbal spears hurled by irate supporters on a day which re-affirmed that he and his players are in the grip of the icy, dead hand of a malign providence.

In the perpetual struggle for sovereignty between the Old Firm clubs, this is not an uncommon phenomenon. It is, indeed, a fairly regular occurrence whenever the transfer of power from one to the other is set in motion. On such occasions, the team in descent often becomes as helpless as a drunk, lurching from one calamity to the next, seemingly incapable of avoiding damage by even the unlikeliest of opponents.

It is an experience with which Rangers fans will have been more familiar in recent years, remembering the fecklessness of Alex McLeish's final season and, a little earlier, the fall of 2000-01, when Dick Advocaat's side, having won the championship by 21 points the previous year, finished 15 behind the Martin O'Neill-inspired Celtic.

In their first season under Mark McGhee, of course, it would be insulting to describe Motherwell as pushovers in Celtic's quest for recovery from the previous week's defeat at Ibrox. But, even if they did embark on this visit to Celtic Park in a share of third place in the Premier League, the 19-point gap between themselves and the reigning champions suggested a pronounced imbalance.

In any case, Strachan's team in the nine matches since the jolting home defeat by Barcelona in the Champions League that seemed to trigger the tailspin had won just four. They had delivered a mere nine goals – three of them in the game against a Gretna side cobbled together by the administrator – and had failed to register a single goal in their two previous outings at home, against Dundee United and Aberdeen.

This pointed to an inexorable slide, a vulnerability that would encourage any opponent to believe that a joust with Celtic in their current state of uncertainty, home or away, held the promise of profit. The optimism would apply even to a Motherwell team who had lost 3-0 at the same venue back in October.

Even so, the admirably honest McGhee himself seemed bewildered by his side's victory after 90 minutes in which they had been almost relentlessly confined to their own half of the field. The hostility towards Strachan from the Celtic support, calling for his removal, was utterly predictable, but, on this occasion, difficult to justify.

While the extent of Celtic's authority in previous non-scoring matches against Rangers, Aberdeen and Dundee United had been exaggerated in some quarters, their control on this occasion was almost complete. It was impossible not to imagine Strachan wondering what he was supposed to do about players whose failure to convert their domination into victory had nothing to do with the manager's selection or deployment.

He may, however, have concluded after the first 20 minutes of uninterrupted, but fruitless, assaults on the visiting defence that the match would follow a depressingly familiar course. Even when Motherwell were reduced to ten men with the ordering-off of Bob Malcolm for an over-the-ball challenge on Massimo Donati as early as the 51st minute, there remained the feeling that the home side were destined once again not to score.

McGhee may have harboured a certain sympathy for his long-time friend, Strachan, and for Celtic, the club he has always supported, but that, as he confirmed, would be submerged in the joy of victory.

"I can't think of Gordon in that way right now," he said. "I'm a Celtic fan, I played for this club and I've always been a supporter and if you asked me who I would like to see win the league, I would say Celtic.

"But we took two points off Rangers earlier in the season and for Walter Smith and Ally McCoist to see us do this today, it means I can look them in the eye.

"It's a huge result for me, to come here and win for the first time as a manager. I don't think there's any doubt that our goal was against the run of play. We simply couldn't get to grips with Celtic and they had an awful lot of crosses into our box. But we defended well, especially after Bob was sent off."

When Simon Lappin volleyed the loose ball into an unprotected net after Artur Boruc had dived to parry Marc Fitzpatrick's initial drive, even the most vehement of Strachan's critics would have had to agree that it was a bizarre moment.

Scott Brown, Shunsuke Nakamura and Donati had all squandered good opportunities and Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink had headed against the crossbar during those opening 20 minutes of aggression. It was a series that seemed simply to reinforce the impression that Celtic are now at the mercy of an irresistible downward spiral.

Strachan was understandably subdued afterwards, agreeing that the retention of the championship "has got to be near impossible now". On top of the defeat, he had had to contend with Scott McDonald's petulant reaction to being replaced by Georgios Samaras after an hour.

"There are more important things in the wider scheme than Scott's reaction," he said. "He's apologised to me and to his team-mates, but it's a small thing when placed in the context of losing at home to Motherwell. And there's nothing I can do about the fans' reaction to him being taken off. I was trying to win the game."