Celtic v Motherwell - Preview

By Paul Marshall
September 19 2003

Terry Butcher will be hoping his side can stretch their unbeaten run to four matches when they travel to Celtic Park this Saturday.

After victories against Kilmarnock and Hibernian plus the home draw with Partick Thistle Motherwell will be hoping their unbeaten run continues against a Celtic side fresh from a Champions League defeat in Munich.


It's been a good week to be a Motherwell fan ( it's not often you can say that ), 5th in the SPL after beating Hibernian at Easter Road coupled with the great news that the club are taking steps to come out of interim administration, Butcher is even optimistic about Saturday's match, he said " It's good news and it means that we can all really look forward to the future now. We were already positive after last week's result and the news means that we are even more positive ahead of Saturday's game. "


Can we keep up the recent form ? we haven't won at Celtic Park since the 1999 / 2000 season when Kevin Twaddle scored the winner for a 10 man ' Well ' team.




Celtic Park


If there was ever a good time to play at Parkhead it's probably this weekend, Martin Appeal could rest key players for Tuesday's meeting with Lyon in the Champions League.


One man who will be out to prove he's worth a starting place for Celtic will be goalkeeper Magnus Hedman , the Swedish goalie failed to come for a cross and handed Bayern their victory, Magnus told Teletext " I have to deal with it. Take it on the chin and get on with it and do everything I can to make sure that I learn from it and that it never happens again. I have made mistakes before and come back from it and I know that I am strong enough to handle it. "


Celtic will be missing Didier Agathe after the winger was sent off against Dundee last weekend but Chris Sutton makes his first appearance for Celtic in the SPL this season after missing 5 matches through suspension.


In our recent poll we asked how many Motherwell fans would be coughing up 24 pounds to get into Saturdays match - only 22 % said they would be paying the inflated prices.


Pride of Lanarkshire prediction -

Celtic 1 - 1 Motherwell